Stuck with each other
by Chay18
Summary: "I had tried everything! I've tried to show you how much you mean to me, but you never seem to listen. It's as if you don't want to believe me." "You're right... I don't believe you." Now with beta! Jared and Kim lovestory never told.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! I've been trying to gather enough courage to post it so here it is! JaredKim fic. I love this couple, I found their story so cute. This is not cannon pairing, cause I'm Team Jacob! GO JAKE! You will see…Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy to write this. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing… if I did Jacob would have ended up with Bella ^^ anyway Stephanie Meyers does... **

**Thousand Miles- Vanessa Carlton **

_**STUCK WITH EACH OTHER **_**Chapter 1: **_**Always him**_

_Ohhh Ohhh Ohhh Caught in a bad romance_

_Ohhh Ohhh Ohhh Caught in a bad romance_

_Rah rah ah-ah-ah!  
__Ro mah ro-mah-mah  
Gaga Ooh-la-la!  
__Want your bad romance_

Oh my God… I hate to get up in the mornings. Lady gaga was singing loudly, trying to wake me up. Even if she was one of my favorite singers, right then I hated her with a passion! I turned to the other side of my bed, which was cold-yuck- grabbing my alarm to turn it off. It wasn't easy though. I kept touching the whole night table not reaching for my cell phone.

_I want your loving__  
__and I want your revenge  
you and me could write a bad romance  
(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!)_

"Whatever you want, just shut up!" I cried and succeeded with turning it off. _Yay! I would definitely change my alarm._

Mondays, Mondays…who likes Mondays? Not me. They are boring, grey, sleepy and annoying.

Getting up I looked at myself in the mirror. It was a sight to see, my black long hair was all fuzzy, I looked like a lion. I frowned, making weird faces and laughed at myself. I know…random. My face was so boring, I mean I had pretty green eyes and long lashes, but my cheeks were too high and my lips too full. I stretched up raising my arms above my head, and took a deep breath. _Kim you have to see it from a good point of view__… You will see the girls, laugh, and get out of here for a while_. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and house, but it's always nice to go out and see other people.

_And I will get to see Jared, the coolest, hottest, nicest guy in La Push high._

Mental sigh. _Yeah, see him from afar, daydream about his beautiful body and delicious smell…_

"Kimberly Connweller, ready?" That was dad, a buzz killer. I looked at the clock at my wall. 7:20 am. _Crap. _

Not for the first time, I was going to be late. It was such an ugly habit, but i couldn't get rid off it. Hurriedly I went to the bathroom and turned on the hot water while stripping from my clothes. I took the fastest shower on the Connweller history. After dry toweling my hair and brushing it, I run to my drawer and choose some black panties and a push-up bra, not that I wanted to show off, but it did look good with my curvy body. Not that I was THAT curvy, I couldn't complain. I kept moving around the room trying to find my favorite T-shirt with the "I heart NY" sentence in it. Not looking where I was stepping I smacked my tiny toe with the corner of my night table.

"Fuck!" _Ow ow ow ow ow!_ That hurt a lot. I grabbed my beating foot with both hands while rubbing it sending a murderous look at the small table. "Why do you hate me so much?"

"Kim, ready?" 7:35 am. Dang! I began running through my bedroom, jumping in one foot like a chicken without head. _Where's that shirt?_

Finally, I found it on the chair under a hoodie. I put on some black skinny jeans and black ballets. My school bag was already done, so I just left it there for later, then someone knocked furiously.

"Kim! Kim! Kiiiim!" Haley, my little sister came bouncing up and down in her pink dress "I'm Sleepy Beauty today!"

"Yay, you look beautiful hun," I told her ruffling her hair. "But don't jump there!" Hal always liked to play princess, lots of girls do, I did, funny sight. "Really get out of…"

**Making my way downtown **  
** Walking fast **

"I found it! It's mine!" M_y bed_. Jordan came through my door, being chased by Emma.

"You little piece of…!" Em trailed off. "Give it back!" They began running around my bedroom. Haley was jumping on my bed, Em and Jordan were chasing each other around said bed, and I, I was kind of staring completely frozen, in shock. _What's everybody doing here!_

"What are you doing here?" _Thanks._ Mom asked bewildered when she found us. "Hal sweetie you're going to get hurt." She went by my little sister and picked her up from my bed. "Breakfast is almost ready," she said brushing Halley's hair again in a braid.

"You better run." My old sister warned Jordan.

"Kids stop! The entire neighborhood is hearing you." Okay! Everyone here! Free apple pie, get your own! Dad went over Jordan and Em and got each other by their arms. "Em you're almost eighteen! He is your little brother don't treat him like that"

"She's so mean dad," Jordan said pouting and giving us a fake innocent look.

"We will talk later buddy." Ha! Jordan pouted, now meaning it. _That's what you get for being such a pain in the ass._

"Can every single person in here leave, as in right now?" I demanded politely.

Everyone looked puzzled, as if they didn't remember why they were here in the first place. I didn't know either. Mom took Haley with her downstairs. Dad left too, scolding the most troublesome siblings you could ever have, even if they were almost ten years apart. Silence, at last.

_Damn I'm still late!_ I made a run for it: cleaned my teeth and put on some mascara, it looked good with my green eyes. I got my bag and grabbed my cell and IPod. I wanted to wear some sandals to show my blood red toe nails, but the weather was sort of angry, and that wasn't going to happen._ I would freeze my feet most likely._ Down in the kitchen mom was feeding baby Hal, the other two were glaring at dad, and he was well… reading the news, a big smile on his face. Probably they had gotten punished helping him with the paperwork on his job. That could be the most boring punishment you could ever have, believe me.

You see, dad, Aston Connweller, is a 42 business man. He was doing pretty well, and every time he could- and felt we deserved it- dad gave us any whim we could ask for. Aston was a great dad, ometimes kind of nosy, but we loved him anyway.

"Kim, ready?" And there he went again. Every morning was the same. Sometimes I thought he just did that to laught at me.

"Dad I'm right here! Yes I am ready!" He just laughed at me- see?- I huffed and searched for food on the cabinet since my mom healthy weird breakfast wouldn't do for me that day.

"Who drives today?" Mom asked, trying to feed a not that willing Haley some fruit before leaving for work.

"Me!" Both Em and I said at the same time, I glared angrily at her, and she did the same.

"Me," Both said again. "DAD!"

"I'm older." Em said like that was enough argument to win any discussion.

Every time we argued about something, all she said was: "I'm older". A_nnoying old sister_. Moving around the kitchen trying to find something yummy to eat, I replied: "I'm more responsible." I found pop tarts. Good.

"Since you were in trouble this morning, Kim does." Yay! That's why I loved dad. Well, not just that but you get it.

Hurriedly I grabbed the car keys, before Em got on my way and tried to steal them from me. I began eating my oh-so-perfect breakfast while Em and dad argued about justice. As if she knew what that was about.

"Not fair," She shot daggers at Jordan who was immersed on his chocolate cereals. "Why did you have to pick him up from the streets?" She sneered.

"Em!" Mom scolded.

**Faces passed **  
** And I'm home bound**

Even if mom was as delicate as a flower by her looks, soft curves, black short hair and not tall at all, Jasmine Connweller was a woman with strong spirit and a bad temper when needed.

"Because, once they picked you up," Jordan finally swallowed his cereals, he can be so gross sometimes. "They were scared for life, so they tried with a boy."

Despite the rudeness of their argument I couldn't help but laugh at their constant bantering. Each day it was funnier. Me laughing, caused Haley to laugh- even if she wasn't listening- what caused mom to shot me a murderous look. _Oops!_ I shut up instantly.

"Kids," Mom sighed exasperated. "You're family. You can't talk to each other like that."

"Mom is right," Dad backed her up. "Now apologize." He added not looking at the newspaper anymore. When he put on his business face, we all knew it was not time to mess around.

"Sorry..." Em and Jordan mumbled, although I knew better, knowing they would be fighting again once mom and dad had left.

"We're going to be late! Come on!" I cried heading to the door. "Bye mom, dad," _Oh my, it's freezing cold out here. _"Baby Hal!" I yelled once I remembered she always wanted to feel included. She was a perceptive three year old girl.

"Bye honey, have a good day!" They both shouted from the kitchen. "Day!" Hal shouted squealing after that.

I went out first. I had to turn on the engine and park it in front of the main door. I put my bag on the back seat and waited for Jordan and Em to get in the truck. When they weren't there two minutes later, I honked three times. Mom didn't like it, but they were too slow for their own good.

"Chill Kimsters." Said Em getting on the passenger seat. "Next time, I'm driving, doesn't matter what dad says." She warned, pointing at me with her slim finger.

"We will see that M&M's." She huffed. I knew she hated that nickname, that's why I always got at her with that.

"Where's Jordan!" I asked nervously. "We're late."

"He's grabbing his science project, up in his bedroom." Sisters. When I needed her to be hard on him she just didn't care. She obviously found her cell phone way more interesting. Who could have phoned her or texted this early, I wouldn't know. As if on cue, Jordan came walking- slow and carefully- all the way to the backseat car. He was holding a big square wooden carpet, painted all in black, small balls glued to black sticks. They seemed to be floating in the air. He left it carefully on his left side and put himself the seat belt.

"Ready to go?" I asked, not wanting to come back just because they forgot something. 7:50 am. _I'm not going back anytime soon, even if they beg._

"No." They answered bored and sleepy.

I couldn't drive my fastest to school. Not because I didn't want to, but because my parents would not allow me, since I'm taking my little brother, and for our well being of course. Jordan said he was old enough to go faster, and with eight years we just shrugged him off, which irked him. Even if we were always fighting and arguing we really loved each other. We were a pretty strong family. While I was driving I saw Emma nodding off in her seat, her peaceful face giving away the good girl she really was. She was a great sister, and it showed when I was eight and Em was about ten. A rude girl -now she is still as rude as then- always liked to pick on me. One day at lunch time, Em found out and beat the crap out of her. We were both busted and punished, but anyone dared to touch me after that.

I know Jordan tries to deny it, but he knows Em and I are watching over him. Watching, in case he got on trouble or needed us -not that we would hit any of his classmates- but we could be there for him. Although this little guy always seemed to goof around, he was a great boy, who liked sports given that he was on the football school team. He was fit, the normal for a kid his age. He looked a lot like dad, tanned skin -darker than mom's, Haley's and mines- coffee dark eyed and a boyish grin and black cropped short hair. Emma was a lot like dad too, with the same characteristic, but more feminine and a body to envy. She was pretty, easy going, girlish and delicate, everything I wasn't. Even if she didn't play sports, she was always in some diet. "Not everyone gets to have this rocking body." She uses to say.

Fortunately, La Push high wasn't that far from home -driving that is- and we arrived with three minutes to spare. I parked the car besides Kayla's van and waited for my happy siblings to get out, tapping my foot at Jordan's patient movements. Once they were out, I locked the car with a beep and we were off, an amazing day of school ahead of us. Oh joy.

First thing in the morning was calculus, something I was pretty good at. That didn't mean I liked it, and thank god I had the book with me, so I didn't have to go to my locker. Just as I got to class, the second bell rang. I sighed in relief, lateness would not help my grades. Mrs. Shawn looked disapprovingly at me, I knew she hated when some student interrupted her lessons. I just looked away to find Angela, one of my best friends waving shyly at me. I give her a wide smile and sat down in front of her.

She muttered: "Where were you?" While poking my head with his finger.

"Siblings." I whispered, she understood. Knowing me since first grade meant knowing everything about my bizarre family.

The hour didn't go as quickly as I hoped it would, and I found myself counting each tic of the clock. Finally the waited bell rang. Thanking God I stretched in my seat reaching for Angela beside me. She was looking at the front wall -deep in thought- biting her lower lip slightly, something she did when thinking deeply. Her face was amusing, but we would have been late for our second class, and that couldn't happen.

"Heeellooo...?" I asked waving a hand in front of her. Finally I got her attention, then she blushed.

**Staring blankly ahead **  
** Just making my way **

"Oh…sorry, I spaced out." She answered sheepishly, recollecting her books and bag.

"Yeah, I could tell." I told her snickering. "Pauly boy?" I said lightly.

It was a delicate topic for her, but I needed to help her with her infatuation. _The donkey talks about ears. _She simply dismissed me and began walking out of the room without me. I knew then that something was up. I ran to keep up with her, locking our arms. She sighed and her shoulders slumped, sing that she was going to tell me. I waited for her to talk. We got to my locker where I took both my book and my painting bag. When she didn't say anything, me being the amazing friend I was, helped her.

"Spill it Angie." I said trying to close my locker's door.

The damn thing had an identation or something for what it wouldn't get closed. After two futile attempts I smacked it hard, and like magic it closed. _Take that piece of metal._

"It's about him," She looked at the floor. "He's been getting… hotter." I looked at her confused and chuckled.

"Erm…maybe?" I was so confused I was asking instead. "That's what got your panties in a bunch? His hotness?" That was rather amusing: Angela having dirty thoughts.

"No!" She replied too quickly. I raised an eyebrow at her, telling her to go on. "Is that he is getting loads of attention now and…" She trailed off.

She was jealous, nothing new there. She didn't like the way girls stared at him or tried to get on his pants -which he willingly let them- but I wasn't going to tell her that.

"He has always been…"_ A womanizer, a man whore, a player… that won't do_. "Getting attention from girls?" S_mooth Kim, really smooth._

"I know." She scowled. I wasn't used to see Angela that depressed because of a boy issue. "But now it's different, he is such a show off, he had been busted by Mr. Cordag three times for PDA, not pg rated at all." _That douche…_

I didn't know what to tell her. She knew what kind of guy Paul was, we told her what we thought about him. As our friend we had the obligation to tell her the truth, even if she almost burst into tears. I was about to say something but she was faster.

"And not just that," She sighed. "He's angrier, mean with so many people..." We began walking to our second class, an in front of us stood the jackass who had my friend all spaced out. I glared at him, which was totally lame because of our height. I had to crack my neck to look at him in the eye.

"Out of my way." He growled not even looking where he was going, passing between us bumping into me on his way out.

"Idiot." I whispered when he was far enough.

I waited for him to be far from me because I didn't want him going ape at me, he seemed pretty angry already. He stopped on his tracks as if he had heard me, which was impossible, because he was too far. I had talked too low, ON PURPOSE. He didn't turn around though. Maybe I was being paranoid. After that I saw him start to tremble, but I wasn't sure. I looked at Ang who was noticeably saddened by this encounter, her hazel eyes lost in the figure disappearing before us.

"Maybe he had a bad day." I blurted out. I hated that she felt so dejected. She sighed not believing me, but put on a brave smile.

"Sure."

Who likes Mondays? Not me.

**Making my way  
Through the crowd**

**~º~º~º~º~ºLater, lunch time on the cafeteria~º~º~º~º~º**

"Come on Ang," Lily moaned taking a bite of her sandwich. "Forget him, he's not worth it."

We had been discussing the whole Paul deal along the day, we hadn't solved anything though. Angela was still worrying about him and we were still trying to make her understand he was doing well.

"It's not about that." She recoiled from us slightly. "He's acting weird." She added thoughtfully.

"He has always been!" Lily snorted and Kayla laughed shyly. I couldn't help it, so I laughed too.

"You wouldn't be laughing at me if it was Jared here we were talking about!" Angela huffed. I gasped at her words. What he has to do with anything? Plus, I wasn't going all mom at him.

"That reminds me of…" Lily's black eyes were shining in a sick way. "How was art, lover girl?" She asked wriggling her eyebrows at me.

I scowled at Angela who had a 'serves-you-right' glare on her heart shaped face. Kayla though seemed interested and a tad apologetic.

"As ever, we had to paint some dead nature thing, what a horrible way to call it right?" I joked nervously. It didn't go lost on anyone I avoided to tell them what had happened willingly.

"Nu hu…don't even try it..." Lily sang.

"Fine," I sighed dramatically, they laughed but waited nonetheless. "He was there, I was there… painting, period." I looked away ashamed at my lack of fordwareness.

All three of them groaned at me. I looked at them with an indignant expression. _It isn't my fault I can't talk to him without making a fool of me. _I had tried by all means to fight my shyness when it comes to him, but I couldn't. To say I had an infatuation with Jared Thail was an understatement, he was my boy dream come true. I'd like him since I was thirteen. Lame I know, but when someone gets to you -_and you are too stubborn to move on-_ love still remains. Anyway, I always hoped he would like me some day. The sad part was we weren't even in the same status.

"Maybe other day." Kayla smiled at me sympathetically. _Aw, she is too cute for her own good. _

I smiled too but shrugged my shoulders. I didn't want them to think it was a big deal although they knew it was. When I said Jared and I weren't in the same status, what I mean is that he is the most popular guy in high school while I was -not a freak- not one of the top girls in here. I wasn't the kind of girl he used to date, tall with a hot body and cold heart. You see, he is tall dark and handsome, in other words, perfect. He plays in the football team and likes to date bimbos, it doesn't say much about him, but I had known him since elementary school, and he was well, a boy, but had a good heart too. Or so i thought. The way he laughed or brushed his hair when he was nervous sent my mind on a trip. _I would like to stare at his black eyes all day._ Sigh. We sat together in history class, not because he wanted to, but Mr. Polard told him to. I had art, gym and chemistry with him, and I would stare at him and imagine our perfect life together until some teacher called my attention or one of the girls smacked me hard on the head, bringing me back to reality.

**It's always times like these **  
** When I think of you **  
** And I wonder **

"So you were just being your stalkerish self, huh?" Angela asked amused.

I stuck out my tongue at her, but nodded anyway. They knew me better than anyone and helped me through this "little crush" as I decided to name it. That day had been as any other: me stealing glimpses of him while he dozed off next to his buddy Tyler. At least he wasn't sending love-notes to his "girlfriend". Those days were the worst of my life.

"Can we… change the subject?" I begged, munching my own lunch. "He's not far away." I looked down embarrassed. I didn't even want to think what would happen if he found out I liked him. I blushed deeper at the thought. _He would laugh at me… I'm sure._

"He cannot hear us," Kayla soothed me. "He's not even looking this way." And she was right, he was all lovey-dovey with Tanya, his current girlfriend. Gag me.

"Gag me." Lily said as if reading my thoughts.

We all laughed like crazy hennas causing the whole cafeteria to look at us. I got all flushed, attention was nothing I was looking for. _Damn him!_ Everyone looked at me but Jared, and that made me mad. _What's wrong with him? Blind hot man!_ But I liked him nonetheless… He was so cute and carefree.

_IS HE PUSHING HIS TONGUE DOWN HER THROAT! Gross!_ I huffed while the girls made gag noises by my side. Their friends cheered them when they FINALLY broke away needing air. Why were they laughing at that? Tanya's clones were giggling stupidly blushing and talking quietly among them. Gisela, Anna and Jennifer were Tanya's "best friends", if you could call them that.

"We better leave, don't you think?" Angela asked pushing away her tray and getting up. That was probably the smartest move seeing how things were degenerating at an alarmin rate.

"No," Kayla moaned. "I have gym… horrible." Complained letting a sorrowful whine. She was smart, cute, but sports weren't for her.

Jared was still holding Tanya in his arms, almost sitting her on his lap laughing at some private joke between them. I narrowed my eyes at them from the corner of the room, I wasn't going to deny it, jealousy was eating my up inside. I shook my head, getting rid of those nasty images and focused on my friends, who were talking animatedly.

"Last time I played volleyball I almost beat the crap out of the captain, I'm not looking forward a black eye this time." Kayla added cringing at the memory.

We all laughed at her and left the cafeteria, joking and making fun of each other until we parted ways. Me and Lily went to history. I was walking with my head down fumbling with my shoe while my friend ranted about her last crush, Tom Willon. I just couldn't push out of my mind the way Jared was looking at Tanya, why couldn't he look at me that way? Hell, look at me, period. Sigh. I should stop this, look the other way and forget about him. It's not that I hadn't dated other guys, or kissed, or… well I didn't go that far, but I've made out…passionately, let's leave it like that. But I couldn't let go of him properly. I've tried, I've been happy, but they weren't him, and they will never be.

"You okay?" I heard someone ask next to me. I looked up to find a concerned Lily smiling at me.

**If you ever **  
** Think of me**

"Um… yes, just thinking." I frowned. Was I that easy to read? Sure my expression gave it away, but I tried to play cool. "Nothing important." I shrugged.

She sighed exasperatedly. She knew I was lying, and I loved her for knowing me that well.

"I know it's not easy to see that," She said not looking my way. "But it will get better one day, I promise." She nudged at me with her elbow. I knew she meant it. It had happened to millions of girls, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was alone in this.

"I know, just can't wait for it to happen." I replied. And I really did.

We got in class without saying much more than that, and waited for the second bell to ring. We sat down and pretended to pay attention. I say pretended -cause let's get real- this was history class we were talking about, and who-is-too-blind-to-notice-me sat right next to me. The only though made my brain turn into mush.

He was next to me, looking at the front, bored out of his mind doodling on his notebook. Why I couldn't just say hi? Something smart? Make him notice me! It was like someone gripped my neck with such force any sound couldn't make it out of there. I sighed again, I knew by complaining I wouldn't get his attention, but maybe sighing loud enough he would turn around and tell me to shut up. That would be a start.

"Mrs. Cornweller?" I heard a deep voice calling my name.

"ME!" I yelled. My face flushed and I said in a most controlled tone: "Yes, sir?"

I heard some people snickering behind me.. I hated having all the attention. I bit my lip keeping my eyes on the old man who was giving me such a hard time.

"I asked you a question," He narrowed his wrinkled eyes. "Well?"

"Huh…" I mumbled dumbly._ Crap. Okay I wasn't paying attention. Geez, stop it old man! _"I don't know..." I said embarrassed. I noticed Jared tuning to look at me, his eyes full of pity. Awesome, the first time he notices me, and all he sees is a dumb girl, taking dumbly to a dumb teacher, I thought.

I didn't get what Mr. Polard said after that, but he went on asking other condemned soul about his lecture. I sighed heavily and began taking notes furiously, not looking away from my paper.

"It sucks when he goes all bitchy on you." I heard a heavenly voice address to me.

I tuned my head to see Jared talking to me…ME… distractedly, not looking directly at me, but talking to me nonetheless. I gaped at him, not able to let out some of my lovely sarcasm.

"Ye…yeah, he does that a lot." I replied. What a poor comeback. For a first time, it was shitty. I've been dreaming about this day, what I would say to him that I would sweep him off his feet, and when it comes, I chickened out.

**'Cause everything's so wrong **  
** And I don't belong **  
** Living in your **  
** Precious memories **

Nothing more was said, he went on as if he had never said a word to me. That stung a little, but hey, I wasn't going to pressure Jared, he got the control here. Sigh. I didn't think it was possible for any human to blush a whole half hour, but me being the amazing super girl I was, did. I was downright embarrassed, and couldn't stop it. Class finished and I got to say I was disappointed Jared hadn't tried to talk to me again. I shook it off rapidly, not that he had the obligation.

"You do seem to get spaced out frequently, don't you?"

I looked up and found a smiling Jared grabbing his bag and throwing it over his shoulder. I couldn't help the blush on my face and I laughed nervously. _Seriously Kim, get a grip._

"No, it's not…" S_ay something smart, your brain begs you_. But I didn't have the chance since he was already leaving not waiting for my answer.

_I was not surprised since I took a lifetime to answer. But I was so happy I couldn't care less._

I was shocked, to say at least, Jared Thail was talking to me out of the blue. Maybe that was the start I needed. I smiled to myself, he did notice me spacing out the whole hour, that meaning he was watching me closely, if not observing. I heard someone clearing its throat behind me, pulling me out of my reverie. I turned around to see Lily there, smiling wickedly looking pointedly to the door where Jared just had disappeared. She raised her eyebrows at me and crossed her arms, waiting for me to explain. I just shrugged and took my bag with me, smiling widely at my friend, leaving without saying a word to my next and final class. I could hear her laugher from the hallway -she's always been a loud one (don't think dirty). I decided I would tell her later, not that I could or wanted to keep it a secret from them. Hell it had been the happiest day of my life (besides my fourteen birthday which was totally amazing). I wanted to celebrate! But I wanted some time to recall everything he said and happened, then, later by a four sided phone connection I would tell them, I couldn't wait.

I squealed happily once I was on my locker, making sure no one noticed, it would have been awkward. Jared talked to me! Jared Thail talked to me… on his free will… and he wasn't being mean at all! Doing in my mind the happy dance I went to biology, where I couldn't concentrate. Who cares about eukaryote cells when Jared frigginThail had talked to me barely half an hour ago? What a rush! Luckily my face wasn't flushed anymore, but I was still bubbling inside. Mondays didn't suck as I thought.

**~º~º~º~º~º~º Much much later, Kim's house~º~º~º~º~º~º**

"Aw, I'm happy for you, go girl!" Angela cheered.

I had gotten home three hours latter my encounter with Jared. I was so happy when I got home, not even Emma and Jordan could bring me down of my Jared induced high. I bumped into mom in the hallway and smiled at her and gave her a kiss. She was surprised and left muttering something about weird but cute teenagers. My friends though, had to burst my bubble.

"You should have seen her love sick expression after Jared left," Lily added to my dismay. I heard Kayla's light laugher and rolled my eyes. Why was always my happiness short lived?

"Ha fucking ha!" I scoffed. "Some friends I have." I plopped myself in my bed and stretched my arms and legs.

**If I could fall **  
** Into the sky **

My aching muscles relaxed and I let the tension from the day flow away. The happy three friends giggled some more before starting kissing my ass. They weren't the least subtle, but I appreciated it anyway.

"You know we love to tease you!" Angela said. "But we love the fact he had noticed you!"

"Yeah, about time..."

"How lovely of you". I snapped at Lily. _God was she a charming little thing._

"What are you going to do now?" Kayla asked out of nowhere.

I hadn't thought much about it, guess I had to do some thinking. Would I have the courage to face him, like I should do?

"Go with the flow?" I asked, dreading their answers. I even covered my eyes with my pillow.

"That's all?"

"Hum?"

"That's not going to work."

"What do you suggest. Oh wiser ones!" I placed a hand on my eyes trying to make go away the incoming headache.

"Fight for it."

"Call his attention."

"Talk to him."

**Do you think time **  
** Would pass me by **  
** 'Cause you know I'd walk **  
** A thousand miles **

I rolled my eyes, as if I hadn't tried all of that before. Jared talking to me wasn't changing my shyness, not helping it either. I sighed, maybe I should try, they were always right. Plus they would never let me get out of this without a fight.

"Okay, I will give it a shot..." I agreed not so willingly.

"Yay!" Kayla exclaimed.

"That's gonna be fun." Lily chimed in.

"And we are going to help you.

**If I could  
Just see you... If I could**

**If I could just hold you **

** Tonight **

* * *

**Thoughts? Did it seem short? It looked quite different before updating it :S Kim is tracing a plan mwahaha! Will Jared fall for it?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is chapter 2! I know it's kind of slow but we are getting there (: I have a lot of ideas for this story, loads of drama and romance coming!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twillight :(**

**STUCK IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER**** Chapter 2: **_**Smile, but be careful**_

I'm tugging at my hair  
I'm pulling at my clothes

I was unable to sleep peacefully after the night talk with the girls. We've been planning how to approach Jared in the hallways or any other place for that matter, cut it out with my stuttering and not to be embarrassed each time he talks to me. If he ever does again.

I couldn't help but think we were getting ahead of ourselves, is not like he professed his undying love for me, he just told me how much of a bitch Mr. Polard was, no surprise there. But he had noticed me spacing out, and told me so, maybe he was trying to do small talk.

Perfect. He trying to chat and me being Kim just kept on staring at him and gaping in total fish style, could I have done it worse?

"I heard a lot of rumbling up there" said Em looking at me from the corner of her eye "what or WHO have you all worked up?"

I noticed her implications in her tone, she indeed knew about my "little crush", I wasn't going to give in her provocations though.

I'm trying to keep my cool  
I know it shows

"Eavesdropping so early?" I said faking a smile "your life is an empty one" I made a face. She wasn't exactly the kind of gossip or nosy girl, but my love life, or the lack of it in my case was none of her business.

"Whatever" she dismissed me quickly. I had lied awake until midnight and even then, my sleep hadn't been restful at all, the idea of being friends with Jared or tried to get his attention had me nervous.

What if he doesn't try anymore? I wasn't going to impose myself at him, it will be as if it never happened. The conversation I mean. God, there wasn't even a "conversation" per say, he did all the talk and there were two sentences! Geez, sometimes I hated my teen side.

I had been trying on my best clothes for hours, not being able to sleep had its perks. What color would he like best? Should I wear a skirt or fitting jeans? That's when I wished I had more fashionable acknowledge. Emma did but that would have meant explaining everything to her and that wasn't going to happen.

"Today I'm going to Tya's so don't wait for me, just drive the squirt home"

"Witch"

"Brat"

Here we go again. Same old with these two. I nodded but stood out of their fight, were they going to stop any time soon? They stopped currently so there was an enjoyable silence. Or it was for me anyway, while Em drove us through the path to school.

Arriving at the parking lot Jordan shot out of the truck running to his friends who were waiting for him at one corner. Those kids were hilarious, always talking about the random things ever. Not that funny when they had a sleepover at home.

I tried to gather my thoughts and smoothed my hair while Em put on more lipstick again, she was going to waste it all on one use. I was tempted to say so, but thought better, she was going to bitch at me about "who had me all nervous" and knowing her, she will find out.

I'm staring at my feet  
My cheeks are turning red  
I'm searching for the words inside my head

I could do this, I told myself on my inside. Whatever Jared does today will not affect me in anyway. _Keep on telling you that._

I looked at the closed main doors and found Angela, Lily and Kayla waiting for me, chatting happily. What would I do without them? _You would be permanently depressed, swallowing in pain, that's what you would do. Geez, feeling loved._

While I walked over them I realized how different we were, not just on a physical way, but on the inside too.

Lily was tall and slim, tanned with chestnut hair till her waist, coffee eyes and a gorgeous smile, while she was pretty and easy going, she had a big mouth that always got her in trouble. She wasn't able to shut up if something was bothering her, she always gave a piece of her mind to anyone who tried to intimidate her in any way. She had a crush on a different guy every month and dated a lot of guys. Intelligent when needed, she hated to study, but then again which teenager on his right mind liked to study? Well, Kayla… but she wasn't normal, that she accepted long time ago.

We all liked to party and have fun, but Li is the spirit of every party we go.

Kayla though, was entirely different, quiet and shy was more the bookworm type, trying to make everyone feel better, she loves to volunteer for everything and always has a sympathetic smile for you. She is almost my height, if not a little bit taller, honey like hair short in a delicate bob haircut with hazel eyes. Every time I needed reassurance or advice about something she was the right girl to ask. Not that Angie or Li weren't, but they were more the explosive without thinking kind and I felt safer if she assured me they were on their right minds.

And finally, Angela, she has both of Kayla and Lily (and mines) traces, quiet when needed but very explosive if you're not on her good side. She is the only child on her house, so she loves our siblings while the rest of us (Kayla with one, and Lily two) tried to send them away. She has a crush on Paul Hill, who doesn't pay her attention (I had heard of that story somewhere), that the reason why we both had an understanding about unrequited love. Taller than Kayla but shorter than Lily loves sports (she plays on the volleyball school team). She has dark wavy hair and a lighter tone of skin than us. Did I mention that she has the most beautiful grey eyes I've ever seen?

"Nervous?" Lily asked me when I was five feet away from them.

I gulped and tried to play it cool "I'm good" but my voice cracked at the end, dammit!

"Why should you be nervous Kimsters?" a mocking voice said behind me. I turned around and found Leah Clearwater addressing to me in a teasing tone.

Coz I'm feeling nervous  
Trying to be so perfect  
'Coz I know you're worth it...you're worth it...yeah

I laughed at her funny face. She was in my class and we liked each other, but weren't on the same group although sometimes we hang out at my house. (She had free access to Jared but I couldn't bring myself to ask her for help) she was friendly and a very sweet girl on the top group, but the last events had turned her bitter and sometimes she was a little bit bitchy.

You see, her ex Sam Uley, disappeared on her one day and didn't come back until a month or so. They loved each other, a lot, we could tell by the look on each other faces, but after his mysterious disappearance Sam wasn't the same, he was always angry and very distant, and one day he broke it off with her. That wasn't the worst part though, he left her because he suddenly "fell in love" with her COUSIN!

Leah had always talked about Emily Young as her very sister, but after stealing her boyfriend from her, Leah wanted nothing to do with any of them. A shitty live if you let me say.

"Hey Leah" Angela greeted her, they were together on the volleyball team. We all loved her though, and could tell she needed all the love she could get even if she recoiled from all kind of demonstrations of love.

"There girls" she said smiling a little, I felt bad for her, such a good person shouldn't be treated like that "Jay jay?" she asked mischievously. Yeah, she knew about my crush… the secret worst kept ever.

If I could say what I want to say  
I'd say I want to blow you away

I blushed, she knew me so well. I looked away, Lily would tell her anyway what all was about. I could hear her laughing at my sudden panic attack on the phone. Hey, he was talking to me out of the blue and I didn't say a proper come back, there was indeed a possibility he may think I was dumb.

"He is a jackass if he is not able to notice you" she said harshly once we were walking to our lockers. I knew better, she was just trying to look out for me. Leah knew Jared tactics and had private access to his affairs. More than once she had warned me about him, saying I could do better.

"We are working on that" Lily said nudging at her with her elbow.

We all laughed and waved good bye to Leah who left to be with her other friends. I wish I was like her, not bitter, but stronger, and as pretty as her.

"I had heard from mom that Sam and Emily are getting married" Kayla whispered to me once Leah was far away.

"No shit" I said surprised. I mean, I know it would happen, but that fast? Sam was older, but I thought he would think things better, hell, handle things better, such a douche bag.

"I don't think she knows, does she?" Lily asked concerned.

"Hope not, she is fine without knowing" I answered. She was depressed after finding out about Sam and her cousin, no need to go all zombie again that soon.

"This is a small town, she would find out anyway" Angela added sadly.

Life sucks and then you die, I don't know who said that, but for Leah's situation it was very accurate.

**~º~º~º~º~º~ºLater before lunch time~º~º~º~º~º~º**

"I hate school" I said once we were walking to the cafeteria "really, this is torture"

"Don't be such a drama queen" Kayla said amused "what happened?"

Today had been a shitty morning, I've been dispersed with the wedding news, and let's face it, trying not to fell out of my chair from tiredness, I'm not going to talk about Jared before going to sleep anymore, it's like taking a shot of caffeine.

"You are sleepy" Lily said as a matter of fact "You hadn't see lover boy all day" she patted me on the shoulder.

Be with you every night  
Am I squeezing you too tight?  
If I could say what I want to see  
I want to see you go down on one knee...  
Marry me today!

"Lily, cut her some slack" Angela tried to come to my rescue, I leaned on her shoulder and faked to be crying. But she was right, I missed him…How can you miss something you never had?

I could imagine Lily rolling her eyes and Kayla shaking her head at our antics. "Okay okay" she said raising her hands on surrender.

All I wanted was to sleep on top of my tray full of food, mashed potatoes stuck on my nose an all. While the girls talked animatedly all I did was nod and say "yes" on the right places, what a horrible mood to start being friendly.

"Kim" Angela nudged at me and I blinked furiously, trying to get rid off of the sleep on my eyes "hottie at eight"

There he was, Jared in all his glory standing a few feet away from our table, holding his hand to Tanya who was shaking her head at something he was asking. How could she deny him anything? I would go to the end of the world if he asked me to. _Kim, slow it down._

Guess I'm wishing my life away...  
With these things I'll never say

After being sure I was presentable and not looking like a freak with all my hair sticking on one side of my head, or my make up giving me a panda look I sat up straight and put on my best smile.

The girls laughed at me, Kayla even called me a psycho, because of the way I changed my demeanor, I stuck out my tongue at her and took a sip of at my soda.

After nearly five freaking minutes of denial, Jared gave up and walked all alone to the end of the food line and waited for his turn. If he ever find out I was stalking his every move he would run away screaming bloody murder.

It doesn't do me any good  
It's just a waste of time  
What use is it to you, what's on my mind?

He was wearing a black T-shirt and a hoddie, nice tight jeans that made him more sexy and black snickers. Black suited him, that's for sure.

After paying for his food he turned and went to his regular table to sit down, not before walking by ours. He glanced around him and caught my stare. For a few seconds I thought I was going to duck my head and blush tomato red, but I kept my head held high and smiled at him. Where did I found the courage? Maybe it was breakfast. Wait, I didn't had any, since I was about to puke from the anxiety.

What was more unexpected was Jared smiling back at me, then turned and went with his friends. I kept staring at the point where he was when he had smiled at me, dumbly and… yeah you knew it, blushing.

"Kim breathe" Lily said and the snorted when I gasped for air.

Jared really looked at me! He smiled at me and it wasn't the kind of smile you show just trying to be polite! This was definitely some progress.

"He smiled at you" Kayla squealed "that's good" she nodded her head.

"He did" I couldn't be happier "he did"

If it ain't comin' out  
We're not goin' anywhere  
So why can't I just tell you that I care?

"Now eat something" Angela scolded "you are going to give yourself a fit"

"Yes mom"

We spent the rest of the hour talking about the little exchange Jared and I had. I always had to remind them he was not far away, so they had to calm down a little, or he and all the teen population was going to find out what we were up to.

I had never felt the cafeteria's food more tasty, even if it didn't really look like what it was supposed to be. Joking was never that easy, I really should try to smile at him more often.

How it didn't bored the crap out of my friends to be talking about him confused me, but I guess, when you love someone and that someone is happy about something, you don't mind.

After eating we headed to the bathroom to spend some girlie time checking our hair, our teeth and telling each other how cute we were on our outfits. Angela helped me out with the purple circles under my eyes, lack of sleep was something that really took a toll on me.

The next hours passed in a blur, I was all smiles and happy sighs. I was full awake, daydreaming about our next encounter, where would it be? Was he going to look at me? _What a love sick puppy you can be Kim. _

Once I heard the handwriting of people who are optimistic titled gently upward, well I was such in a good mood I could write upright on my notebook. Could life get any better? My smile fell a little when I remembered I hadn't seen Jared all day, Lily was right, but we hadn't any classes together. Then something snapped on my head…Last hour I had gym…with him…oh my god, kill me now.

I wasn't as clumsy as Kayla, I could defend myself pretty well on almost everything, but having Jared around me and paying me attention was going to turn me into a puddle of goo… and I would definitely make a fool of myself. Ugh.

'Coz I'm feeling nervous  
Trying to be so perfect  
'Coz I know you're worth it...you're worth it...yeah

Maybe I should ditch, fake illness or to be PMSing, although that never worked anymore.

The bell rang startling me. Shoot I don't have time for a nice excuse, guess I would have to go and play nice. Running to the girls dressing room to change on my sport uniform I realized I could take this class on my advantage, the only thing I gotta do was to call his attention with my ninja skills on gym, plus Tanya wasn't in this class so it would be easier and not that risky.

I pulled my hair on a messy bun making it look good, or at least not that bad. Mrs. Cadman never allows us to wear our hair down, it make all of us look funny and not at all sexy.

"Today" Mrs. Cadman shouted from the end of the gym while we approached her "I don't want to hear any complain or comment about the activity at hand"

Everyone looked at each other suspiciously, what was she up to?

Jared was at the other end of the group ruffling his hair and talking lightly with Paul, not that they were best friends but they got along, how could someone as good as Jared talk to that… that jerk, ugh.

"Mr. Thail I would love you to be quiet for the five minute explanation of this class" our teacher scolded him bitterly. Damn she was not in a good mood.

Used to be the bad guy in high school, Jared just rolled his eyes at her but shut up nonetheless, I turned my head quickly, no need for Mrs. Cadman to point out why I was so dispersed.

As she promised her explanation just went on for five minutes or so, leaving us to run for another five minutes and then regrouping us in four teams to play volleyball. I was slightly covered in sweat and sticky, perfect combination and to top it off Jared wasn't on my team, not fair.

Sarah, Tyler, Leah and I were team number 1. We all cherished, with Leah on our group we would win, no discussion. We all took our positions and waited for the other team to start the game. Jared was on team #3 so I would have to wait to play against him.

We all had a good time beating the crap out of the other team, Leah and I doing a high five each time we made a point. It was easy and I was full of energy, I was only hoping Jared was looking my way from time to time.

"Why oh why are you so excited, huh?" Leah told me amused while we were waiting for the next team to finish they own match.

If I could say what I want to say  
I'd say I want to blow you away

I winked at her and smiled so wide I thought my face was going to split in two, Leah realized that too and snickered sending a pointing look at Jared. I blushed deep scarlet but shrugged and went to the other side of the gym to drink a sip of water.

This day was proving to be so good so far, not being able to sleep was a poor cost for the perfect day I had, I was going to mark it on my calendar. Wooshh! I was so excited!

I turned away and high fived Sarah, we were going to win again, I knew it. Suddenly my confidence wavered seeing who was on the other team. None other than Jared Thail, panting slightly from the effort. Oh god, Kim look other way, don't let those dirty ideas get on your mind! Too late. I was drooling over him like a teenage girl.

Wait, I'm a teenage girl, so it's okay if I drool.

I felt someone tapping my shoulder and it caught me off guard making me jump. Leah was laughing her ass off at me, so far so good. I turned red as a cherry, I hope he didn't caught me staring at his hot male muscular ama… okay Kim time to turn it out.

Sighing I dared a look to the other team, thankfully he was entertained with the ball, I sighed again in relief, it was close.

I cleared my throat and shouted over the net "Okay, ready"

Jared raised his head and looked at me square in the eyes, why have he to do that? I looked away and went back to my position.

The game went pretty even, if not because sometimes somehow I lost my balance or was slightly distracted by some hot man on the other group. If Jared were on mine we could be a perfect team, hugging each time we marked, even kiss. _What did you eat? It's making you delirious._

Be with you every night  
Am I squeezing you too tight?

I closed my eyes and shook my head from side to side trying to get rid of the beautiful images that were on my mind. Then I heard Leah's voice address to me, I knew it because she said my name, other way I wouldn't have looked at her.

"Kim, watch it!"

I just muttered a 'huh' barely audible and then pain shot through my whole head. It shook all my head and made me see everything double.

"Oh god, you okay?" someone asked me touching my shoulder. I was all too groggy to even know who it was so I just nodded making the pain increase. I flinched and put my hand where surely would be a bump later.

"Don't move" I heard footsteps running towards me, who kicked the ball with such force and hatred?

"Let her be, don't stress her" I thought I heard Mr. Cadman say.

"I didn't… I mean, she was doing fine so I thought she would be able to" a desperate voice stood out from all the noise.

"You sure have a powerful arm Mr. Thail" said an amused teacher. I wasn't noticing anything worth laughing here, bitch.

"You wanted to kill her or what" Leah spat angrily at him, I turned to look at her and noticed Jared had a concerned look on his face. Poor guy, it was my fault for being daydreaming of him, but I wasn't going to say that.

"Leah" I spoke softly "it was my fault, I was distracted" I tried to calm her, but it didn't worked.

"What if he had kicked you on the nose!" she said coming towards me and kneeling before me "he would have broke it"

"But he didn't" I replied "I'm fine" my claim lost its credit when I flinched again, damn I wasn't making it easy.

I got up trying to make my way to the sick bay on my own, but dizziness took over me making me seat, hands on my head. It really looked worse than it felt for sure. Me, Kimberly Cornweller, who doesn't like attention had the whole class staring at her and hers pathetic attempts to get up.

"Okay everyone, get in your play, she needs refreshing, so go on with your activities" Mr. Cadman said, thank god, and everyone forgot about me, or so I thought.

"You okay" I heard a deep voice ask me full of concern "I'm sorry"

I opened my eyes and saw Jared kneeling I front of me, close enough that I could feel the heat emanating off of him. I gulped loudly, not trusting my voice but not willing to try to nod again, what a hard decision.

If I could say what I want to see  
I want to see you go down on one knee  
Marry me today!

Nodding I would wince or something, then he would feel bad for hurting me even if it wasn't _entirely _his fault and I didn't want to see him all guilty because of me.

But talking I would make a fool of myself, or even mumble something incoherently, then he would feel bad and think I'm idiot. But hey, I can blame my mumbling to my current state.

So I went with the last "I'm fine now" my voice didn't crack or something, but I blushed furiously at what I had said_. REALLY? I'm fine now? God, Kim._

I wanted to look away, anywhere but his amused black deep eyes. I know me so well, I'm fine now…Realizing he didn't say anything about my stupidity I quickly replied "Now that the head ache is fading"

"Right" he said not convinced "you want me to take you to the nurse?" Oh my god, Jared Thail was going to take me to the nurse! I was going to be alone with him! Well, the nurse would be kind of in the middle, but it was something!

When I was about to confirm him that indeed I wanted HIM to come, Leah beat me to it making him leave.

"Nah, you would probably trip her or pushed her over the stairs" I glared at her but she didn't seem faced by it.

Jared rolled his eyes and seemed annoyed at Leah's manners, which I totally agreed but let her take me. "Go to play, she's fine" my friend (I don't know any more) pushed him a little and he obliged.

"Yeah" he said getting up and smiling at me "sorry" and with that he left me there, on the floor with an idiotic smile on my lips.

Guess I'm wishing my life away...  
With these things I'll never say

"Aren't you obvious" Leah said wickedly "come on lovesick girl"

_Well, today I top it off with Jared attention_, I thought to myself, _didn't I?_

**~º~º~º~ºLater later, Kim's house~º~º~º~º**

"We can say today we were successful!" Lily said raising her orange juice "cheers"

After laughing and taking sip of our drinks everyone congratulated me for my advances. I heard Jordan muttering something along the lines of weird from the living room but any of us paid him attention.

"Not that Leah helped" I said still annoyed by her attitude at Jared.

"Hey you almost made a fool of yourself, and I quote 'I'm fine now'" Angela said making small crouches with her fingers "she saved your ass there, what would have you done if you two were alone?"

All of them nodded knowingly, thing that pissed me off. I left my half muffin on the plate and glared at the threesome.

What's wrong?  
With my song?  
These words keep slippin' away...

"I wouldn't have jumped at him" Kayla chocked on his juice. _Serves her right. _"So don't worry about that" I huffed and crossed my arms.

"Aw come one Kimmy, don't get your panties in a bunch, we were messing" Lily said patting Kayla's back gently.

"Li's right, plus you would have" Ang chimed in. I throw my muffin at her right on her face, she wasn't expecting that. HA.

"Hey" she growled at me picking the rest of chocolate chips that were on her hair.

"You got a vicious aim don't ya" Li said her mouth full of cookies, once she swallowed she added "How were you able to drive after that?"

"I was fine, it was just at first that I got a little dizzy, but once class ended I was as fresh as a rose" a rose with a bump in her head, I thought bitterly. Jordan didn't make it easy on me the whole way home.

I stutter...I stumble  
Like I've got nothin' to sa-ay..

"_Wow sis, you look… special" Jordan said not even trying to hold his laugh._

"_Get on" I grumbled, I wasn't going to put up with this kid now, I felt pretty crazy, maybe I would left him somewhere far from home, I'm sure he wouldn't find his way back._

_I smiled at myself and received a weird look from my little brother who was excitedly on the passenger seat getting on his seatbelt. I got in and started the truck leaving smoothly the parking lot. _

"_Halloween wouldn't be here till the month…" he said smiling wickedly._

"_Your point?" I snapped knowing beforehand he was trying to be a smart ass._

"_You already wearing your unicorn dress"_

_All the way home Jordan kept asking how I had got it, why someone hit me, if I was being my nosy self that someone felt the need knock me out… that he was going to call me unicorn from now on. I refrained the urge to smack him hard and making him a bump just life mine so we matched._

"_I swear little Jay" he hated his baby nickname "if you don't stop it I'm going to do something very very bad to you, that you would be peeing yourself on bed till you are fifty" I narrowed my eyes at him while I waited for the green light. _

"_Psycho" he called me, but then gulped and looked away. The rest of the ride was quite uneventful, only the smirk on my face remembered Jordan not to say any other word._

Coz I'm feelin' nervous  
Tryin' to be so perfect  
'Coz I know you're worth it...you're worth it...yeah

"Poor kid" Angela scolded me "you know you can scare him for life!"

"Psht, I wish I could" I said poking what was left of my muffin.

"Really, you don't know what you are talking about" Kayla said shaking her head "sometimes Mandy gets on my nerves and I want to strangle her"

"Whatever"

"Hey, so I just heard" Li cut their conversation, a new twinkle on her eyes "Tia is going to have a party this weekend" she clapped her hands excitedly.

"On her house?" I asked uninterested.

"Yeah, and she said everyone was free to come" she held up a finger "well only juniors and seniors"

"Cool, there would be a lot of people then" Angela said happier now.

"I think we should go"

"What?" I said loudly "She is my sister best friend, that's just weird"

"Why?" Li whined, she can be such a baby sometimes "there's going to be seniors! And all the popular stuff!" she said what I thought was to my benefit, but I couldn't find it.

"So?" I shrugged "Em is gonna be there" I scrunched up my nose in disgust. I love my sister, but partying with her, well that was…weird, plus she won't feel comfortable, she is very popular on her class while I'm pinning for someone who didn't even know my name, well not anymore. I smiled to myself.

"I think we lost her" Kayla said while waiving a hand in front of my face.

"I'm here" I frowned.

Guess I'm wishing my life away  
With these things I'll never say

"Kim" Ang tried this time "Jared is gonna be there, then you can be with him on a party! That would be awesome!" Oh well I hadn't seen it that way, but then something clicked.

"Yeah, I would be there partying with him and Tanya" I grimaced "Yay"

"Uhhg, just come, then we could do something about that" I raised both eyebrows at her, was she crazy?

"Think about it" Kayla put a hand over mine "it will be fun, like opening junior year with a great party"

"I will" all of them began screaming "THINK about it" I muttered.

"Booo… buzz killer" Li chanted, I stuck out my tongue at her.

We spend the rest of the evening talking about how Jared almost killed me, laughing and doing our homework while listening to music till mom came back from work with a sleepy Haley on her arms.

"Hey Jasmine" all of my friends greeted her, used to call her mom or by her name, we were all pretty comfortable on each other houses.

"Mom" I stood up and kissed her cheek taking Hal from her arms to put her on her bed.

If I could say what I want to say  
I'd say I want to blow you away

"Hun" she smiled, but then she frowned "what happened to you, you're hurt" she said barely touching my bump.

You know when you got hurt, no matter where or how nasty the wound is your mother has the urge to poke it or touch it? Well that was what she was trying to do. I smacked her hand away, she laughed at me knowing full well I hated when she did that, since when I was five.

"A boy tried to commit the higher form of passion with your daughter here" Kayla laughed at my mom expression.

"A boy?"

"Murder" Angela said laughing uncontrollably and high fived Kayla. The three of them were laughing like hennas again, god I hated them, I will give them murder.

Mom looked at me expecting some explanation, the words 'boy' and 'passion' shouldn't be on the same sentence while talking about me, thank god dad wasn't home yet. He would have had a fit.

"We were playing volleyball and I got distracted, a guy kicked the ball and it landed on my head, end of it" I looked away. I didn't wanted to tell her it was Jared, that I had a crush on him, that we were close enough to kiss or that he offered to take me to the nurse.

"Oh my baby" she embraced me "why did you do to the 'guy'? You rejected him or something?" she added playfully. Yeah side with the clowns, Jasmine.

"Not happening Jas" Li shouted when I tried to escape them shutting the door of my bedroom.

"I think someone spilled weird pills on their drinks" I told mom while cradling a sleeping Haley. God the kid didn't wake with the barks of that witches.

Luckily all of them left before dad arrived so I gladly walked their out of my house, shooting daggers at them.

Be with you every night  
Am I squeezing you too tight?

"We had fun" Angela said getting on her car, she was driving Li home since Kayla lived two houses to the left of mine. She turned around and made a run for it.

"I'm sure you did" I muttered and waved goodbye. This girls would be the death of me. I smiled and got back home not before hearing some 'cracks' from outside. It was pitch black and I couldn't see anything so I dismissed the thought and got ready for dinner.

By some miracle the bump on my head almost disappeared by dinner time, so anyone got to comment about the tortuous relationships with my schoolmates. Jordan thought seemed a little wary to come near me, I felt bad, I hadn't meant to scare him that much.

Before he went to bed I grabbed him by the arm and he tried to shrug it off, but I was older and bigger so I took hold of his handsome face and kissed his cheek with a loud smack. He ewed all the way to his bedroom, but I knew we were back on good terms (as good as a brother of 8 and a sister of 16 can be).

Em got back after dinner time, she got a ride from Tia, dad was kind of angry, he didn't like any of their children gone at dinner.

What was I going to do about the party? I wanted to spent time with Jared, but there was nothing going on between us, not even friendship. Would it be wise to approach him on the dance floor like old buddies?

I decided to wait until Friday, if our "friendship" I frowned at the term, progressed I would go, I would make up my mind then.

If I could say what I want to see  
I want to see you go down on one knee  
Marry me today

Once on bed I thought about the sound I heard from the street, sure it could have been a cat or simply nothing, I couldn't know, call it feminine instinct but something told me it was more dangerous than that.

Guess I'm wishing my life away  
With these things I'll never say

**Hope you enjoy it! Please review! It means a lot to me! Tell me what do you think :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing; Stephanie Meyer owns the amazing world of Twilight.**

**STUCK WITH EACH OTHER**** Chapter 3: **_**Every little thing counts **_

_**I need a miracle- Cascada**_

Boy meets girl  
You were my dream, my world

Finally it was Friday. End of the week, time to be excited about the lots of stuff you can do with your friends, no homework, no class, and no rush. That or you could step onto my world, where Friday meant stress and fear. It hadn't been always like that. I mean the sun shined, birds chirped. The sweet life. But THIS Friday was something else, Tia, my sister's best friend was giving a party at her house, everyone invited me included.

Those three witches I called friends were giving me such a hard time about said party.

"It's going to be a blast! You cannot miss it." Was one of the arguments Lily gave me.

I still wanted to wait till the last day to make up my mind. Jared had a lot to do with that, he was the main reason I wanted to go. If he showed any interest in me then I would try to win him over during the party. It started with me saying 'Hi' when he would sit down next to me in history class or when he passed by me going to his locker. I couldn't say I kept my cool. Indeed I babbled a lot.

But I was blind  
You cheated on me from behind

FLASHBACK:

"_See you later." Angela waved at us while she waited for Kayla to catch with her._

"_What said your dad about your bump?" Lily asked smirking mischievously._

"_Nothing, cause it disappeared before dinner time." I stuck out my tongue at her. She pouted. Mom was pretty understandable, but dad was a whole different deal. Boys and dad don't mix well. _

"_You are no fun."Whined my supposed to be best friend._

"_Whatever." I snorted. _

_We got ready for history, books and all on our hands, when we noticed we were the lasts ones to arrive. "What's up with everyone?" I whispered to Lily who checked her wrist watch. She raised her eyebrows almost to her hairline._

"_Kimsters, we are early," she whistled. "That's a record"_

_I looked around me, Mr. Polard wasn't in class yet, but everyone was gathered around the 'in crowd' talking excitedly. Li couldn't resist and decided to sneak beside Vicky, a cool girl from our grade, and soon was engaged talking, a sparkle on her eyes. I decided not to pry; she always told me what she heard. I took my seat beside an empty table. I sighed, feeling sad. Where was Jared? Was he going to ditch? Again? Good Lord, this kid is going to fail if he keeps this up._

_I felt watched, as weird as it sounds. Someone was digging a hole onto my head. A shiver ran up and down my spine. The idea of having a stalker was creepy. I tried not to turn around and look at the window like the crazy woman I probably was, but fear got the best of me. I peered outside, trying to catch a glimpse of some random guy trying to hide but found nothing. Disappointed I closed my eyes taking deep breaths to calm myself. _

_Kim you've always been a weirdo, but lastly you're topping it off. I thought bitterly. _

"_Hey." I deep voice said next to me._

_I jumped in my seat, my face flushed and palms sweaty. I turned my head, and saw Jared looking rather amused at my reaction. He waved lightly as if he could scare me with a rough movement. I laughed nervously. Now he probably thought I had a mental disorder._

"_Hi." I breathed. "Sorry I hum…" Nice, I couldn't get one whole sentence out of my mouth. _

"_Something calling your attention?" He asked peering over my shoulder. "You were pretty concentrated there."_

"_Oh, that…" What could I say? I thought there was someone stalking me, see, since yesterday evening I've got the feeling somewhere in the dark a crazy guy is watching me. That would be interesting to explain. "I thought I saw a…a" Shit! Think fast! A ghost? No you idiot! "A…um…my dog, you see, my dog Lucky, he got lost on the woods and, well, I thought it was him, but maybe I was confused, it's not like he knows his way back." I rambled. _

_Oh my God! Kim you never had a dog! The look on his face softened "This is a small town, maybe he can make it to your house." He really sounded sincere, and here was I, talking about a dog that never existed._

"_Yeah, I hope he find his way home." I grimaced, knowing that would never happen._

"_He is lucky after all." He tried to lighten my mood by joking, thinking I was sulking for my 'lost dog'. I would have laughed at that, if I hadn't thought of the idea of him finding out I never had a pet in my whole life. But he would never find out, right? _

_Before I could embarrass myself any longer, Li came bouncing over me and stood happily in front of my table. "Guess what's everyone talking about?" She bit her lip. _

"_Oh no, that party again." I whined, she could be really persistent. "Li I've already told you,"_

"_None of that crap," she waved a hand in front of my face. "I already know what I'm going to wear." She glared at me daring to say otherwise._

"_Are you going to Tia's party too?" Jared asked suddenly. _

_Lily and I looked at him surprised, miraculously we had forgotten he was there, by my side. 'By my side'. That made my bubbly. _

"_I don't think so," I answered before Lily could say something. "My sister and all…" I made a face._

"_Yeah, Kimmie here," she said nudging me. "Doesn't want to come." Lily looked away huffing._

"_Why not? It would be fun." Jared smiled, and I felt myself melt right then and there. How could I deny him that? Anything for that matter. Plus, was he saying he wanted me to come? Stop overanalyzing! I ordered myself._

"_I…huh," that day I was pretty imaginative with my comebacks. "I don't know if I can make it, I might be leaving for my Grandma's house this weekend." I told him sadly. Why I was lying to him constantly? God I was going insane._

"_That sucks." He said immediately, Lily snorted. He quickly corrected himself ."I mean if you don't want to go, that is." He laughed nervously. He was so cute when he was embarrassed. I felt like holding his big hand as if to reassure him it was fine._

"_We'll see if she goes…" Lily glanced at me from the corner of her eyes, grinning mischievously._

So on my own  
I feel so all alone

_Class was quickly over, what I found utterly sad, because that meant no more watching Jared time. I found myself sighing in disappointment while grabbing my notebooks and bag. Once outside I saw Ang and Kayla waiting for us, nodding excitedly and clapping hands. They just couldn't let it go._

_I rolled my eyes and sighed again. Why did they like to torture me? Lily linked my arm with hers and said in a cheerful tone: "Come on Kim, the party spirit will get to you; you cannot run away from it."_

"_Yeah but it, indeed, ran away from me."_

"_It would find its home soon, I promise." She hugged me, more tightly that I would have liked. If I didn't know any better I'd say she was trying to choke me._

_Jared was standing a few feet away from us, and in two long strides he was at my left in front of the closed door. Then he put a hand on my shoulder, a sad expression on his perfect face. "Don't worry about Lucky, your friend is right, he will find his home." I gaped at him, eyes open wide. Obviously he had heard Li's last sentence and jumped to the wrong conclusions. "Who is Lucky?" Lily asked laughing lightly. I elbowed her ribs, asking silently for her to shut up. "Okay". "Yeah, thanks." I smiled embarrassed at him. He nodded and left, not asking why one of my best friends didn't know about my lost dog. I thanked for small miracles._

_Once he was far from hearing range the girls cornered me, and started asking lots of questions at once. _

"_Aw, girls please, let's forget this, for my sake."_

END FLASHBACK

My face flushed red crimson at that memory. I just got to make sure Jared never finds out Lucky never existed…or I could buy a puppy, couldn't I? Shaking my head, I got rid of those thoughts. Too much for trying to be normal. It did help me talk to Jared though, even if I fed him lies. That was wrong of me, I know, but I was so nervous I said the stupidest things.

Though I know it's true  
I'm still in love with you

FLASHBACK:

"_You ready for Friday's party?" Jared asked me in chemistry class. _

_I thought about it for a minute, then I decided I would agree with him even if I didn't go at all, he wasn't going to notice anyway. "Yes, I…I will be going to Kayla's house after that." Why was I telling him that? It was as if I wanted him to come and see me. How embarrassing. I couldn't meet his eyes, so I settled for a random part of his face. It turned out to be his mouth. Oh well, that wasn't helping either._

_He just smiled and turned back to look at the teacher. I smiled to myself the whole hour, thinking that I should go to that damn party after all._

END FLASHBACK

I need a miracle  
I wanna be your girl  
Give me a chance to see  
That you are made for me

"A skimpy red dress," Angela waved it in front of me. "Or a fitting mini skirt."

Kayla and Lily were rummaging through Ang's closet about to have a heart attack. I didn't expect Kayla to freak out like the other two. Guess getting social in our junior year was important for her.

"I'm not wearing any of that." I warned them. I liked to look sexy, not slutty. "I have brought some things with me." I handed Lily my overnight bag, which she ripped open and began searching for a nice piece of clothing.

Finally, I gave in with Tia's party. Jared charmed me in –without knowing so- he was the one to blame. I had packed my finest clothes with my set of make-up and my toiletries. I was lying on Ang's bed, belly down, messing with my cell hoping this 'event' would help me in some way to call Jared's attention.

It was not the best scenario, with Tanya there and all, but the girls promised they would take care of her. I didn't know if I had to be relieved or more preoccupied. If I wanted this to work, I had to put up a fight. I had to win Jared over. I couldn't wait for some magic or miracle to do the trick, that wasn't going to happen.

"Wow, I like these heels." Li said holding them on the air and nodding. Ang and Kayla nodded their heads in agreement.

"I know, they are the best I've got."

"Someone wants to get some male attention tonight!" Angela sang in a chirpy voice wiggling her dark eyebrows.

I simply rolled my eyes and flipped so I was facing the roof. I couldn't even think about kissing Jared without blushing, much less was I ready for…whatever they might be thinking. Shaking my head as to get rid of those thoughts, I heard the girls snickering at my expense.

What was I going to do when we showed up there? Go over to Jared and offer him a drink? No, that's kind of dorky, he will have one already. Plus I didn't want him to think I wanted him to get wasted. Uuurg, this was so complicated! I wish we just could be as natural as kindergarten kids. You want to be my friend? Yeah! Let's play hide and seek!

No such luck.

I need a miracle  
Please let me be your girl  
One day you'll see it can happen to me

I felt someone poking at my head. Opening my eyes, I saw Kayla staring down at me, on her knees with a tub of mascara on her hand.

"When are you going to get ready?" She cocked her head to one side. I laughed at her. She looked like a…dog or something.

"I was waiting for you to choose something nice I could wear." I muttered uninterested. I didn't want to leave the comfort of the pillows. Suddenly I was feeling funny. My tummy was in knots, I felt sweaty and very very hot.

"Relax," she said massaging my scalp. "It's just another party, you go there, dance, drink and have fun."

"I hope there's alcohol." I heard Lily yell from the bathroom.

"K, it's not some party." I whined. "HE is going to be there, I just…can't." Okay, maybe I was being a brat, but I couldn't help it. The mere thought of having him talking to me outside the academic world was sort of unrealistic. I didn't know if I had the guts to go over him and say hi.

Two hours later, some burns and too many dresses, we were ready for some fun. I had my hair in soft ringlets, smoky eyes and a cute blue dress with white dots on it. It had been fun to get ready. Lily almost throws a fit when Angela made her look more like a raccoon than a hot girl with smoky eyes. She nearly kills Ang with the dryer. I laughed so hard. We were driving in Kayla's suburban because she was the one who lived closest to Tia's. We decided to stay at her house for the night –that Jared already knew. I felt so lucky to have them with me. I sighed. I was going to have fun Jared or no Jared. Tia's house was big enough to party without colliding with the other schoolmates.

Kesha's Tik Tok was blaring out from the car with us jumping in our seats singing, ready to have a great time.

"And now the dudes are lining up 'cause they hear we got swagger." Angela sang making silly faces.

Then we all replied: "But we kick 'em to the curb unless they look like Mick Jagger!" And laughed out loud. Arriving at Tia's house, we took a deep breath, parked and examined our make-up on the little mirrors we carried with us on our purses. We stepped out of the car, closing the doors at the same time. We looked like VIP on some party, although that was far from the truth. I could hear music coming from inside of the house, all the lights on and tons of people having fun. Suddenly I thought this wasn't such a great idea. Even college guys were coming!

I need a miracle  
I wanna be your girl  
Give me a chance to see  
That you are made for me

_This whole ordeal is stupid_. I though dismissing my nervousness. I just was making it a big deal because Jared was coming. What was I, a pre teen?

We made our way to the main door and through the sea of people dancing and drinking. A group of girls were almost pole dancing around Paul Hill. Disturbing. He looked like he was enjoying himself though. Realizing this sight could ruin the mood party for Angela I took her hands on mine and turned her around, so she was facing me instead of the crowd.

"You were right. This is going to be fun!" I said almost too eager. I widened my eyes at Lily and Kayla who were just looking at me with a mixture of amusement and confusion. Quickly they turned around and understood why I was acting so weird. I even had to make an awkward 'dance' to keep her attention while the other two closed her path and sight.

"Okay, let's get moving." Lily urgently grabbed her shoulders and dragged her to the kitchen where we poured ourselves a glass of punch. I took a long gulp. _Ew, what's on this drink?_

"That was…" Kayla whispered in my ear. Angela was trying to get hold of a can of beer. She was out of hearing range.

"Close, I know." I answered her from the corner of my mouth. Lily had offered to take our purses somewhere safe while we drunk, I kept my phone though. You could never know.

Really, I didn't know how we would prevent her of seeing things like that on the near future. I gulp down the first glass of alcohol of the night and sighed. I hadn't thought about the Paul factor. It would be as if I found out Jared making out with Tanya on the other room. My body froze. What if I found him on the act? There was not parental supervision after all. People would go as far as they could. _God this wasn't a good idea!_

I didn't see Jared or his crowd around for a while. We just stood by the kitchen for a few minutes, waiting. Waiting for Paul the-jackass to stop being the fucker he was, and for us to get a little tuned up. When we were gulping down our third drink Temperature by Sean Paul came through the speakers. We decided to take a drink with us, and go to the living room where we could dance and relate with more people.

I was expected Emma to be dancing right in the middle of her best friend house, but she wasn't there_. Where is everyone I know?_This people were completely estrangers.

Shrugging my shoulders, and thanks to the alcohol that was entering my body, I began dancing with my friends swaying my hips at the rhythm of the music. I realized this house was enormous. Big living room and almost as big kitchen. She even had a swimming pool! Em had told me her best friends' house was nice, that Tia's parents well kind of wealthy, but I never thought to this point.

I need a miracle  
Please let me be your girl  
One day you'll see it can happen to me  
It can happen to me

_I will throw parties like this too if I had this house_, I thought my eyes wandering over the seas of heads nodding at the music.

Not far from us, were Charlie and Kellan dancing pretty close. They were a solid couple, as solid as teenagers could go. You know the kind of sweet couples you say 'Aw, they are gonna get married', that kind. He was embracing her from behind and nuzzling her neck. My eyes lost its focus and I imagined I had that, that kind of relationship, synch with someone. I was a little bit jealous, but glad they had each other. I would find my other half soon enough. Or that was what I kept telling myself.

Lily nudged at me almost throwing her drink on me.

"Hey!" I hissed at her. I raised my hand that was all sticky to her face and she giggled. Good, Li was buzzed. She was such a light weight.

I couldn't wipe my hands on my dress because, one: it was going to left a smelling wet spot and two: it will not take off the smell of alcohol of my hands. I huffed and strolled to the bathroom, or tried anyway. Angela tried to bring me into her dance, but I refused telling her I had to go to the bathroom. I should have asked where it was, cause I had no idea. Wandering off to the hallway I opened almost every door I found and peeked shyly. I found a game room, a smaller living room, even a study, but there was no bathroom. _Where did this people_ _pee?_ I bumped into Leah who was coming from upstairs.

"Leah," I said relieved. "I didn't know you were coming."

"Hey Kimmy." She held up her beer. "I didn't either, it was kind of a spurt of the moment."She shrugged her shoulders. She was so beautiful in her red dress. I was lightly jealous of her body.

"Can you tell me where the bathroom is," I wrinkled my nose in disgust sniffing my hand. "I got lost."

"It's obvious." She laughed. "Upstairs the first or last door, they're both restrooms," she turned to leave but stopped. "Trying to impress someone?" She eyed me suspiciously.

"N…no," _why am I stammering_? Okay, so what she said wasn't a lie, but it wasn't entirely the truth. "Just having fun." If my stammering state wasn't enough, my blush gave me completely away. Leah laughed and patted my shoulder. "You look nice by the way." She added before leaving.

I tried to control the blush that was threatening to cover my whole body, and crawled to the first door I could find in the second floor. I thanked my lucky stars the stairs weren't too long, I wasn't enjoying the sore feeling my feet were already giving me. I barely had the first door opened, when I heard giggling from the inside. Great, some couple I was going to interrupt. Trying to close it, hoping I hadn't made my intrusion that obvious, I made my way to the end of the corridor and as I was about to close the door behind me I saw people coming out of the other bathroom.

I'm not usually nosey, but I was wondering where my classmates were so I hoped I would recognize someone, even in this odd situation. What I did not expect, was it to be Tanya with some guy. I flinched, thinking I almost got in there with Jared and his girlfriend going at it. I knew it was Tanya because of her chirpy voice.

Miracle... Miracle

She laughed when Jared kissed her on the neck and pressed her against the wall. "Not here." If she was trying to stop him, she didn't sound pretty convinced. I felt like yelling at them 'Hey I'm right here!', but I didn't have any right to do so. As I was backing away I heard what I thought was Jared talking to her. "You want to get in there again?" I put a hand over my mouth trying to silence my gasp. That was not Jared! My heart couldn't stop beating wildly at the thought that he was being cheated at. I tried to reason with myself.

_Ok, for one: You can't see in the dark, Kim dear. Not yet at least. _

Well that's a valid point. But I know Jared's voice; I would never mistake it for other one. Lame.

_Two: You are buzzed, that has to count for something. _

That's true too. But if I made my trip over here without tripping or spraining my ankle, it means I'm able to discern people I know. I'm not light weight when it comes to alcohol.

_Maybe that's what you want to happen. Then Jared would be free and it would be easier and less wrong to pursue him. Your mind is playing tricks on you._

Maybe.

The theory sucked, but my senses while no incapacitated where not cat like either. So it could be possible I was making it up. I tried to look closer, my head peaking from the door, but it was useless. I narrowed my eyes but nothing came from it. I had to admit defeat.

"Tony, stop."

_And there goes my theory._

Tony? Who the hell is Tony? My eyes widened and I closed the door behind me, making sure I made no noise. My breathing picked up and I had to take a seat on the toilet while I processed this new information.

Tanya is cheating on Jared. No one knew but me. I couldn't go out till they left. Shit.

How am I supposed to stay in here until they stop sucking faces? I almost yelled at myself. I knew if I went out and they were still there, she would think I knew something. She would have been right. I took deep breaths and cleaned my hands. That was the purpose for this trip after all.

Day and night  
I'm always by your side

I pondered my choices –there weren't many of them- and tried to listen for some noise that would indicate me it was safe to go out. The music underneath us didn't help, so I cracked the door open, and peered from inside. They were still there; not knowing if to stop their 'affair' and go downstairs, or get locked on the bathroom for another make out session. I cursed under my breath and locked my door for safety_. I need to get out some time tonight, my friends would start looking for me soon enough._ I decided if they didn't leave in five minutes I would have to pass by them. I would have to fake being drunk, that way they wouldn't suspect about me. I looked at my right, a rather large tub- more like a Jacuzzi shinning in the moonlight. Talk about nice.

* * *

"Okay enough is enough." I told myself once TEN minutes had passed. I know I said five, but my acting skills weren't as good as I liked to think. I needed a bit of preparation. Taking in a deep breath I opened the door briefly, my head peaking out. They were STILL there, whispering to each other_. Ugh! I hate them!_ I thought about going out stumbling –the best idea I could came up with- or giving them more time. The latter seemed safer. As I closed the door- yet again- my cell began beeping. Loudly. I grabbed it hurriedly, my hands shaking. If they caught me here waiting for God knows what, I would be discovered and all that waiting party would have been for nothing.

"Who is it?" I whispered, getting as far from the door as I could. I even stepped on the Jacuzzi.

"Where are you," I heard Kayla say. I couldn't answer her though, someone had taken the phone from her. "Where and with whom are you?" That was definitely Lily. A very drunk, very funny Lily. "In the bathroom. Now let me talk to Kayla." I tried to be gentle with her; you don't want to mess with angry drunk Li.

"She's not here." She laughed when Kayla shouted from behind and indignantly 'Of course I am'. I sighed. This was so not the time for this. "Which bathroom? Not here on the first floor."

"Upstairs, I got lost," just when I was going to tell her to stop looking for me, she yelled. "She's upstairs everyone!" I heard some ruffling. "No worries honey, be there in a minute." And then the line went dead.

Cause I know for sure  
My love is real my feelings pure

_This couldn't be happening. They are coming here with a search party! _I was going to get so busted. I was picturing the scene: I would come out from the bathroom. My friends knocking like crazy, and as I walked along the hall Tanya would look at me with a you-are-so-dead glare. I would never finish high school or get married.

_Not if I'm faster. _

I jumped over the Jacuzzi- which proved to be a bad idea- as my heel twisted and I fell to my left side, not missing its faucet. It came in direct contact with my jaw. OW! Big ow. After that, I fell on my butt with a loud 'clonk'. My cell flew falling on the floor, its battery separating from its base. I found myself inside the tub, with one leg over the edge. My vision blurred with tears about to spill, but I got up, put a hand on my sure to be bruised jaw, grabbed my phone and battery and ran outside. I think everyone heard my fall inside the tub, Tanya could have not missed it.

I didn't expect the hallway to be deserted.

I looked everywhere, but there were no signs of human activity. I groaned to myself- since I was alone, pitifully- and went downstairs. My ankle hurt like a bitch, not more than my jaw, and my pride was seriously bruised. Luckily there was no one to notice all of that. That or they were locked inside the rest of the rooms laughing his ass off at me. I took my sweet time to compose myself, I just hoped my hair wasn't all over the place; I still had a party to attend. I didn't know what to make of the new information I had. Tanya was cheating on Jared, with some college guy. I assumed he was in college because I knew of no one called Tony in our grade or Ems grade. Did she cheat on him usually? Was this a one-time fling? What should I do? Tell Jared? Is he going to believe me? I'm sure if I told him what happened over there, and the reason why I had been punched by a Jacuzzi he would laugh at me. Not that I wouldn't.

I got to the kitchen where there were tons of classmates of mines chanting 'Chug, chug, chug' around a buffed red haired guy, other college boy I supposed. I made my way around the crowd and began looking in the fridge for ice cubes for my injuries.

"Kim!" I heard two girls calling my name from the kitchen's door. I looked at them and noticed they were Angela and Kayla. The latest was dragging a distracted Lily, not easy task.

They came to me and hugged me. I had missed them too and couldn't wait to tell them what I found out. We could even blackmail Tanya. I smiled at the thought. She had everything I wanted, and didn't appreciate it enough. I was lost in my little world when a nudge to my stomach make me come back to reality.

"Huh?" I asked Angela who was the one demanding my attention.

"What took you so long?" She eyed me warily. I found the three of them staring at me, not exactly at my eyes, but their stares were burning a hole in my face.

So take a try  
No need to ask me why  
Cause I know it's true  
I'm still in love with you

"I can't tell you here," inching closer I added. "But it's quite juicy." The grin that spread across my face must have been contagious because suddenly the three of them were smiling as big as me.

"Spill!" They squealed in delight. Delight of what? I hadn't told them yet. My face showed the confusion I felt, but Lily was quick on inform me. "Come on! Who? A college guy?" She winked. It was, sort of, but I doubted they were talking about the same thing.

"Um…I don't understand." The threesome looked at me as if I was stupid. Maybe I was. "What the heck are you talking about?" What were they so happy about? I saw them rolling their eyes, and that made me even madder. Crossing my arms I waited for an answer.

"Hey now," Angela said in a sissy tone, puffing out her chest. "If you come here like that, after all this time with THAT on your face and expect us not to notice, well you are dumb." She pointed at my face.

"Come here like what?" They would have to explain better. I was beginning to think I was drunk after all.

"That hickey as big as Ang's ass." They laughed. Angela punched Lily softly.

A hickey? My eyes widened in recognition as I touched my bruised face where the faucet had left its mark. I laughed quietly and before I could say anything the girls had me cornered at the kitchen counter.

"I knew it," Ang said almost screaming. I didn't know me making out would made them so happy. "It's not exactly as we planned, but it's even more exciting!"

"Whoa," I raised my hands trying to stop their assumptions. "There's no college guy, you are getting ahead of yourselves." Clearing my throat I went to tell them a small summary of my adventure upstairs, when Kayla cut me off.

"So it was someone from La Push high?" They even seemed more excited. They squealed, loudly.

"Jared?" They guessed, completely wrong. I was trying to think of a quick way to explain them what really happened when Jared himself appeared from the corner of the kitchen. His face showed confusion. _Shoot me._

"What about me?" He asked a faint smile on his face. We all froze at the sound of his voice and my eyes widened like a deer caught in the light. "Hey Kim what happened to you?" Now he was eyeing me funny. Kayla had one hand touching my face not covering the sour spot.

I babbled for a few seconds until I found my voice. "I fell, I got a nasty bruise here." I didn't know if anyone heard anything, because I was choking in my own words.

I need a miracle...  
I wanna be your girl  
Give me a chance to see  
That you are made for me

If there could have been silence, it would have been deafening. All four stared at me with an expression of incredibility I would have succumbed and told them the truth hadn't I told them already. I looked at them whispering a weak 'What?' before blushing terribly. When they cracked laughing it was all but unexpected. I covered my face with my hands; not because they had discovered me, but because Jared thought I was upstairs with some random guy!

"Stop!" Came the muffled plea behind my hands.

"We are umm going to grab something," I heard Kayla mumble awkwardly. I looked up and found my 'friends' leaving me, sitting in the countertop with a rather amused Jared. "Be here in a few."

"Yeah…"I trailed off, unsure of what to do.

There were some seconds of uncomfortable silence –at least for me- before I heard someone clearing its throat. I flinched and told myself to be brave, that this is what I wanted_. I want Jared here with me, in this party, this moment._ Looking at his eyes only made it more difficult for me not to blush. I bit my lip while thinking of a way to make this moment less awkward. I tried to figure out how to get down of the counter with those heels. My ankle still hurt, so just hop off from where I was wasn't an option, I would sprain it or something equally as embarrassing. Jared must have sensed my inner turmoil, because he held one hand to me.

"Um…jump?" He asked uncertainly. I took hold of his big hand and smothering my dress I went to do as he said, but thought better.

"I don't know what you must be thinking," If I had to be honest with him –as honest as I could be, giving that I knew that his girlfriend was cheating on him- it had to be quickly. "But I really fell, quite bad may I add, and well my ankle is hurting, real bad." I gulped loudly, I hadn't forgot I was holding his hand. Jared Thail was touching me! Oh my God. Even if his hand was rough, he was grabbing mine with such gentleness it made me swoon. His hand felt so soft.

He went to look at my supposed to be injured ankle all the way from my eyes until my calf. If I didn't know any better I would say he was kind of checking me out.

"I don't know what to think," he said showing his perfect white teeth making me forget for a moment we were surrounded by tons of alcohol induced teenagers. I didn't forget for long though. "Here." He quickly put the hand he was holding around his neck and put his arm around my waist, taking all my weight on the left part of his body. Luckily my feet landed safely and my heart didn't explode as it was threatening to do. I thanked him before unlatching my arm from his broad, masculine, amazing shoulders. My hand wasn't that willing to let go.

I need a miracle  
Please let me be your girl  
One day you'll see it can happen to me

Once we settled and he had offered me a drink- I was in clear need of hydration after almost dying of a concussion and a heart attack- we fell on small talk. He even told me he was glad I could make it, which made my heart soar. He asked me when I had arrived; I did the same and asked where he was, because I couldn't recognize a soul in there. He told me that they went to Tom's house first and he was going to meet with Tanya here. I took a sharp intake of breath at the mention of Tanya which I tried to cover with a cough. I don't know if it worked.

"Having fun then?" Jared asked when we were on our second beer. It seems like my friends weren't coming back and he was noticing. Where could they be? Taking care of Tanya? My body froze. Oh, this couldn't be good.

Noticing I was spacing out I nodded in agreement quickly and added: "Yes, if it wasn't for my clumsy self it would have been really nice." Where is this confidence coming from? Maybe I needed to drink before talking to Jared.

"So your alibi about falling is true?" He wasn't looking at me, but I found in his tone that he was really curious. Taking a long gulp of his beer he cocked an eyebrow and stared at me.

_Who wouldn't? Only you could get lost and come back with what seems to look like a hickey. _

"Totally" I replied too fast. I just wanted to reassure him I wasn't dating or hooking up with anyone. "The Jacuzzi attacked me." I said before I could stop myself. I closed my eyes and waited for his interrogation. If he was suspicious before, now he wasn't going to let it go. I couldn't tell him the real reason I was stuck there with no escape.

"JA…jacuzzi?" Jared choked on his drink.

"I gotta say I needed to take a call and there was no sing from where I was so I had to move inside the Jacuzzi, where there was plenty." I wasn't lying completely, there was no signal. Not that I tried inside the tub, but he didn't have to know.

"Looks like it hurts." He said raising his hand to my bruised jaw. I would have been fixated on his almond eyes if not for the amount of teen boys that made their way to the kitchen to play football with a watermelon. Poor fruit.

"It does." I confirmed him, giving him a better look at the wound. Maybe it was the alcohol, or that I got hit pretty hard on the face when I fell, but what Jared was looking at wasn't exactly my jaw. I would have blushed if not for the boldness the beer gave me. He stepped closer to me and grabbed my hand – the one I was using to hold the can of beer- and bumped our drinks. I giggled, how mature.

"For your clumsy self." And with a wink my heart melted. How couldn't I be in love with this man? He was sweet, funny, caring, responsible, hot, smart…did I say HOT? Obviously that train of thought wasn't helping with my body heat, so I took a long gulp of my cool drink. _Wasn't too hot in here all of a sudden?_

We spent a couple of minutes talking good naturedly, getting closer and closer. Not that he was being close to kiss me, but the way his body inched closer to mine while talking was ego boosting. Was I making all that up? It wouldn't be the first time. I didn't want the insecurities overpowering the good time I was having, and so I pushed all crappy thoughts aside. Maybe I shouldn't have, it would have become in handy before I got really bitch-slapped back to reality.

I need a miracle  
I wanna be your girl

Easy banter, even a couple of dirty jokes went and came before we heard yelling and banging from the living room. Scared that it might be one of my friends, I quickly turned on my heels and being followed by Jared, I found Paul beating up a blond long haired man. Their respective friends were trying- not to separate them- but saving the blond guy. A glass went flying and with Jared quick reflexes he put me behind him. I peered over his shoulders to see an irritated Tia scolding Paul. He was shaking like Monday on the hallway. He seemed to do that often when he got angry. _Is_ he epileptic or something? I searched for Angela with my eyes. She was on the farthest corner of the room trying to get a better look of Paul. I sighed, we would have to listen about this for days.

"This asshole was calling me, ME a kid!" He roared. Somehow his voice didn't sound even human. Was that true or just that I despised him so much I thought he was a pig? "Who the hell do you think you are." Almost pounding on him again, Paul was refrained from punching the poor boy, only to shake off the boys that were trying to stop their fight. He turned to us and I nearly had a heart attack when he came walking towards us. Jared held me to his back and stepped aside, letting Paul pass by. It downed on me then, that we were near the main doors – we must have moved when the glass went flying- and Paul was leaving. After watching his disappearance we all noticed the music had been turned off. People began talking, some of them laughing, and then the music was on again. _What had happened here?_

Em was calming a desperate Tia, while helping her get the broom. Some girls of our class were helping set it all up.

"You okay?" I heard someone ask me, I moved me head to see it was Jared asking me.

"Sure, thanks though."

Before I could get anything else from my mouth, Tom, Chris and other guys –all Jared's friends- came bouncing over to us and greeted Jared. _I feel so included._

"Where were you man?" Tom asked him, patting Jared's back a little bit too strong. "You missed all the fun."

"Sure I did." He said amused.

"Come on," they insisted him. "We are going to take a swim." The rest of his friends tugged at his arm.

"Plus," Chris added pausing to gather our attention. More like his, but oh well. "Someone is waiting for you, she told us to tell you she had missed you all night." Whistles and catcalls could be heard around us. My heart broke a little, and I wanted nothing more than to punch that bitch face for taking Jared away from me. What a slut! After her rendezvous with Tony whatever has the guts to tell everyone she missed Jared.

Give me a chance to see  
That you are made for me

"I'm there in a sec." Jared told his friends while pushing their bodies to the other direction. They waved and said some 'Oh Jared I missed you' mimicking Tanya's voice and failing miserably. It was funny for them nonetheless, for Jared too. He turned then to me, with an eager smile on his face. I could feel my face falling as he told me he had to leave. Of course he would be eager to leave my side for his girlfriend's. I tried not to let him see through me. "I got to go." A sorry smile playing on his lips. He wasn't sorry at the least, that I could tell.

"Yeah…" I said unsure. "See you on Monday, I guess." I did not do a great job at hiding my disappointment.

"I had a nice time." I could feel he meant it this time. "Me too." I smiled and started to walk away when he grabbed my upper arm holding me in my place. "You huh…" I looked at him hesitantly my pulse racing, my arm burning from his touch. "You look nice." He finished before dashing outside.

He left me in a mixture of emotions I couldn't comprehend, hanging in the living room by myself. I didn't know if to be disappointed that he left to be with Tanya- like I should feel- or be giddy at the thought that he found me pretty. I felt like squealing with joy and crying at the same time. After some minutes on my own world, I felt lots of arms embrace me from different angles, squeezing me tightly.

"We saw that." Ang whispered before winking.

"We all saw that." A much renewed Lily was nodding in agreement.

I sighed and told myself this was as much as I was going to get for now. We had the chance to talk, we even hold hands – touching him in any way was well received – and he told me I looked nice.

I need a miracle  
Please let me be your girl  
One day you'll see it can happen to me

"Who said 'she wasn't going to come'?" Kayla mocked.

"Not me." I answered, and then we broke into a fit of laughter.

Definitely, not me.

Miracle... Miracle  
Miracle…Miracle


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**STUCK WITH EACH OTHER **** Chapter 4: **_**The countdown**_

_**Sick of you - Selena Gomez**_

"This is the last time I drink alcohol," Lily moaned. "I swear."

The three of us snickered and mumbled a 'sure' for her sake. We all were sprawled in Kayla's bed, our feet hanging of the edge. It had been a long night. After we left Tia's at five a.m., there were questions non-stop, demanding to know about my 'alone time' with Jared. I had been more than willing to share my thoughts with them, spilling my guts to them as I was to explode. I told the girls every morbid detail- as Angela likes to call it.

To sum it up, the girls gave me the green light to go on with my 'friendship' with Jared. They even awed when I told them Jared thought I looked beautiful. I blushed three shades of red, needless to say.

Monday couldn't come fast enough. I spent the whole weekend doing homework and daydreaming about our future encounter in class- when mom wasn't forcing me to do my chores. On Sunday I went for a walk with Halley. I needed to clear my head and think, but my sister insisted she wanted to come with me wherever I was going. I agreed, and took her to the beach to play. I watched as she tried to build a big sand castle, and after seeing her pouting at her lack of skills to handle sand, I decided to help her. I even got a bit dirty with sand. She squealed in delight when we finished our castle and hugged me long enough to cover me up with dirt. As we were –I was- trying to clean us up, I thought I saw a big shadow enter the tree line. Scared that it might be my invisible stalker, I grabbed Hall and jogged to a secure path, with more people, which made me feel slightly better.

_**You know fairytales don't come true**__**  
**__**Not when it comes to you**_

"Kim, our castle!" Whined my baby sister. She grabbed my hand and tried to pull me to the beach again.

"We can't take it with us," I kneeled before her and smoothed her dress. "Some other kid would want to play with it." I said softly.

"But it's OUR castle," she was almost tearing up now.

"We have to share baby," I took hold of her hands. "Plus, there's plenty of sand for us to build another one, bigger and cooler."

"Like Sleepy Beauty's castle?"

"Yes, like Sleepy Beauty's." I agreed with her. I didn't understand what her obsession with princesses was, but it was cute.

I grabbed one of her tiny hands and made our way home. I looked back one more time – maybe my eyes were betraying me- I saw two big Quileute guys coming out of the woods. Could they be Sam and…Paul? I decided I didn't want to know. Paul scared the shit out of me, no need to go all Sherlock on him.

I decided I wouldn't tell Angela either. She was pretty shaken about what happened with Paul at the party. I always knew he was hot tempered, but to beat some random guy for a simple silly comment was way too much for Paul Hill.

Monday morning I was literally shoving Jordan and Em out of the kitchen. After too many 'Kim, ready?'s from dad and some kisses from mom, I was jumping excitedly besides the passenger door of our car, waiting for Em to get her skinny ass on the driver's seat. Annoyingly, she was taking her time – I don't know if she was tired or was trying to drive me crazy- and I was about to drag her out.

_**Open up for the first time**__**  
**__**And you can bet that it's the last time**_

"Would you stop for a minute?" Jordan asked impatiently. "I know you want to see Jared but geez, you could be quieter about it."

I stopped immediately and turned around to look at him. My eyes widened and I gaped at my brother fish style.

"What…How?" I stuttered in an idiot like manner. "Spying again." I glared at him with so much force he flinched.

"You all were being so loud," the little shit complained. "I really don't want to know if he touched your arm, ew."

"Urrgg!" I screamed frustrated. It was not the first time I found out my conversations with my friends have been spied. It irked me that my brother knew of no barriers when it came to my private stuff. "You say anything, you are dead!" I threatened without really meaning it. I don't know how many times we went down this path.

"Who would care?"

"Whatever." I was suspicious about Jordan spying on my friends, he obviously didn't care about my love life, but whenever the girls were at home, he was claiming his place among of us. _Maybe he has a crush on Kayla. She always had a soft spot for him. _

I smiled to myself, how weird would that be?

_**And I'm cool with lying low**__**  
**__**Saturday night and I'm staying home**_

Finally Emma took us to school, leaving as fast as lightning to hug her friends. _She saw them Saturday night, drama queen. _I found Kayla waiting patiently in our spot, at the left of the main door. She was wearing a red sweater- to thick for my liking- and was holding tightly her books. I greeted her and waited too for the bell and my friends, whichever came first. I saw Jared arrive in his black Jeep locking it with a click. He looked like a model with his blue shirt and baggy jeans; he only needed big flashes. My bright mood didn't last long though; it disappeared as soon as he turned away and made his way over Tanya, who was waiting, smiling devilishly.

Slut, I thought. The girls couldn't believe a word I was saying when I told them about 'Tony'. Lily gave me the brilliant advice to tell Jared everything ASAP, but after reasoning with her for like half an hour, we decided I should keep quiet. I wouldn't say anything till Jared trusted me enough to believe me and not to think I was jealous or something. There was the possibility of him finding by himself, of course. Angela and Lily made her appearance in that exact moment, and we left to our classes. Right before lunch time, I had chemistry, with Jared. I was excited to talk to him, finally- the day had seemed to drag unnecessarily.

_**I'm feeling good for the first time**__**  
**__**It's been a while since the last time**__**  
**__**I'll wave goodbye when you say hello**_

I got to my seat quickly, all the students filling the empty seats until there was just two missing. Paul hadn't come to school, probably ashamed of the scene he performed at Tia's party. I erased the thought fast, that boy didn't give a rat ass about nothing. And much to my dismay, Jared's seat was just filled by air. I had hoped he was being his responsible self and was being late, but the second bell rang and there was no Jared in sight. Giving up all hope I spent the whole hour doodling hearts in my notebook. Cliché, right? I couldn't concentrate. Every time I tried to pay attention my mind wandered to Jared, what he was doing, with whom and when was he coming back. Slightly frustrated with my lack of answers I began to count down the minutes until lunch time. My tummy was grumbling loudly.

I made my way to locker in a daze, barely functioning, completely lost in Kimville. _So, now what? I'm going to steal Jared away from that slu-Tanya? I'm not like that. I don't like to take what's not mine to being with. _

"Guess he wasn't there," I heard a voice ask me at my right.

"No, he went MIA," my answers were mechanical. I was really hungry. "Let's go to the cafeteria please. I'm staaarving."

"Umm…"Kayla hesitated. I grabbed my wallet from the locker and put my bag pack inside. "I think we are going to head out…now." I heard some giggles and saw their retreating backs leaving me. _What's up with them?_ I closed the door with a loud noise and shrieked. Loudly.

Jared was standing there, in all his glory, his back to the locker beside mine. He had a smirk on his face, and at that moment I feared how much he had heard. Giving him a tentative smile I tried to put on a casual look. He stood to his full height and greeted me.

"Hi there," he said amused. I finally got the courage to ask.

_**I'm sick of the sleepless, never ending nights**__**  
**__**I just don't care who was wrong or right**__**  
**__**I'm sick of the rumors and the alibis**__**  
**__**you tear me up, I'll cut you down in size**_

"How much did you hear?" I was even flinching. _Please say nothing._

"Not much, I got here when you said you were "staaarving"."He mocked my tone. I blushed but didn't cower.

"I am."

He laughed and I giggled. It was so easy to talk with him now.

"So, you wanted something?" It wasn't rude or anything, I was really curious as to why he came to see me. Thankfully my friends left so he could talk to me, privately. _Pffftt, as if you were talking about some confidential secret._

He grew serious and frowned. Was something wrong? Maybe he took it the wrong way. I was panicking and he wasn't saying anything.

"Ermm…I guess," was he stammering? I wanted to hug him so bad. _Keep your hands to yourself Kimmie. _"Just, there was this bonfire Saturday night, and I didn't see you there…I took you for a wild spirit, thought you were going to come."

"Yeah well, Jasmine knows how tame the wild." I added shaking my head. Mom wouldn't let me go out two days in a row. Em did, totally unfair."What did I miss?"

"It was no big deal," he shrugged his big shoulders. "You'd have loved swimming at the beach at night." Suddenly he got a dreamy smile on his face and I didn't know if he was thinking about something that happened or if he was picturing me on the beach at night. I thought the former. "A great weekend." He said more to himself. I felt joy knowing he could came to me and tell me some random thing about his weekend, but there was a nagging feeling telling me that there was more behind his reason. I couldn't bring myself to ask him.

"Sure." I agreed. There was an awkward silence between us when none of us said nothing. I was growing impatient and my stomach rather angry. I was about to comment on how weird Paul was, but thought better, they weren't good friends. "You came all the way to tell me that?" I asked a smile breaking in my face.

"Well, since I wasn't in class today, but we have tons of classes together," _Was he with his girlfriend?_ I didn't want to know. "I thought I should get to know you better." Jared smiled his panty melting smile. I blushed furiously without reason_. He wants to get to know me better?_ _What do I say to that?_

"That's…" Before bringing up something stupid as my dog Lucky, I took a deep breath and sighed.

"Hey Jared" His friends interrupted us. They patted him in the back and made that silly salute bumping their fists.

"What are you doing here?" Tom asked eyeing me warily. I wanted to smack the side of his head for looking at me like that. _Pompous ass. _It seemed to dawn on Jared that he was talking to me: Kim nobody. He fidgeted with the hem of his shirt and took a step in front of me.

_**I'm so sick of you, so sick of you**__**  
**__**Sick of all your little lies**__**  
**__**I'm so sick of you, so sick of you**__**  
**__**So sick of all the girls by your side**_

"Here, talking to ehh,"

"We are hungry, you know." David cut him off. Jared told them to go before him, that he would find them later. They agreed, not without first sending me and Jared wicked grins and catcalls. I was deeply embarrassed. _They have a twisted sick mind._ They disappeared and left Jared and I in an awkward silence again.

"See you around." He said softly and smiled at me before turning around and leave. I stayed for a few minutes. I didn't want to go into the cafeteria by his side. Scratch that, I wanted to, but that would have raised tons of gossip. _He wanted to know me? Wanted to be friends? That's awesome! If not for his stupid friends now we could have been talking about it some more, _I hit me on in the stomach, because it growled and made me realize I was more than hungry. Indeed, I was staaarving.

After that, I got to the cafeteria and began telling my friends what Jared said to me, even what his friends implied with his glances. They wouldn't stop bugging me with kissing noises and more, so I changed the topic to Kayla's sweater. We teased her till she was begging for mercy and we stopped, but we didn't stopped sniggering, we couldn't. It seems her grandma knitted it for her and wanted her to wear it.

The rest of the week passed in a blur, classes were getting heavy each day, and Jared was being friendlier each passing day too. I couldn't be happier. We talked at class, right after class, in the hallways, IMsing. We always had something to talk about, and our resources never faltered. Em, Jordan even baby Hally felt the change I was experiencing and kept asking me what was going on, but I never let anything slip. Life was good, until Thursday. That day everything went downhill.

There was free period at 4 p.m., Mrs. Sanchez, our Spanish teacher couldn't make it because she was sick. There were lots of relieved students running in class, we were very glad she wasn't here, one more hour of her boring class and then I would have exploded. They sent us to the cafeteria, were I sat besides Leah, who was in my class. Tanya was there too with her minions talking about manicures and fake boobs.

"I think I need a cigarette," Leah said standing up. "You coming?" I really hated the smoke cigarettes released so I rejected her offer and told her I was going to go to the bathroom. Anything, as long as I wasn't in the same room with Tanya. I felt like I was going to claw her eyes off her face if she even thought about bugging me again. It was the last hour of the day, so I had my bag with me, ready to leave when the bell rang. Why the principal couldn't let us go already, I wasn't sure. Something about: 'the bus not being ready'_. I drive my own car!_ I left the cafeteria silently and made my way down the hallway to the girls' bathroom. I enjoyed the silence the hallways provided when there was nobody running around; it gave me peace to think about how my life could change. I must have wandered too far, because I found myself in front of the main doors. I decided I wasn't going to ditch, so I turned back and went to the bathroom, this time for real. Passing the music classroom- I thought it was empty- I heard noises inside. I told myself that it was wrong of me to eavesdrop, and I couldn't have been more right. The countdown to my destruction began, and I didn't know it.

_**What you don't know,**__**  
**__**Is how great it feels, to let you go**_

Dad says that people who eavesdrops private conversations hear things they don't want to… This was one of those situations. It all started when Tom, one of Jared's best friends started bugging Jared about some girl. That picked up my interest, and even if I didn't want to stay there I couldn't move.

"I thought things with Tanya were ok?" Tom asked Jared with a hint of amusement in his voice. Is it possible that he knew what transpired between that college guy and Jared's girlfriend? I put a hand in front of my nose to cover my breaths. Not that they would hear them, just in case.

"They are. What do you mean?" Jared was totally confused, or so it seemed. If he was trying to play innocent he did it perfectly.

"Aw, come on." David said, I think. _What girl are they talking about? _I tried to get closer without being seen. "We all have seen how Kim looks at you!" He laughed and Tom joined his friend. Jared didn't seem amused though. My breath hitched. _Me? They saw what? Oh my God! _I flushed from head to toe. I was dead embarrassed, but couldn't help the hope bubbling inside of me. I didn't know it was that evident. _I wasn't fooling_ _anyone._

I should have left, because what came next destroyed part of my heart, and the rests of it where crushed until they were just dust.

"So? It doesn't mean I like her." That was like a slap in the face, but I could take it. It wasn't his obligation to like me, he was totally free. But it hurt a little.

"Yeah man" Tom said not fully convinced. "I mean, she's not that bad, she has something about her." I could picture him putting his hands on his chest as if he had boobs. _What a pig._

Jared laughed and I didn't know if to be comforted because he liked my body or slightly disgusted by his intentions.

"That's why he was talking to her at Tia's party!" David said suddenly like he had discovered fire. "She was totally fuckable with that dress on!" I wanted to bitch slap those two so bad. I refrained myself though, I wanted to hear what Jared had to say.

"Ermm, she was…"he trailed off unsure. My heart was beating wildly in my chest.

"David is right," Tom added for his friend benefit. I heard a sound like hands clapping. They were giving each other a hi-five. Morons. "What other thing would you want then?" I could hear the challenge in his voice. "Are you falling for her?" He added in a girly voice.

_**I quit your game,**__**  
**__**It's so see through**__**  
**__**You know I'm way to good for you**__**  
**_

They laughed but Jared remained silent. I wanted to go in there and take Jared with me so I wouldn't hear what he had to say, but at the same time I wanted to know what he thought of me. Inside of me was a battle which left me standing exactly where I was, waiting for an unsure Jared to answer.

"Yeah right," Jared snorted. "As if that would ever happen." He said smug. It hurt. It hurt that he saw that possibility as something impossible. _Maybe he wants to be friends with me and that's all. I'm good with him being my friend. I can't have my cake and eat it too. _

At that point I didn't know if I wanted to stand up for Jared or convince myself.

"Then what are you doing?" David asked.

"I'm just talking with her." Jared stated. He seemed tired of the conversation. "She's not my type and you know it guys."

"Well, she gives you the goo-goo eyes."

"I know." Tanya and Lauren appeared behind me, and Tanya put a finger over his mouth, signaling us to be quiet. I blushed at the thought that they had found me spying.

"Then you are leading her on?" They both asked at the same time. It seemed to be fun for them. "Oh, this is a prank!" Tom yelled at the top of his lungs.

Tears were pooling in my eyes at the thought if what was saying Jared was true. Was he just playing with me? This whole time? Why didn't I notice? I felt so stupid and dumb. I had always thought Jared was a great guy. I knew he was a boy and sometimes was a fucktard like his friends, but that much?

"It is?" David asked giddy. Maybe they wanted to participate too.

"Now you are gonna find out the truth, Kimmie."Tanya whispered, already pitying me.

"What other thing could it be?" Jared asked surprised. _I had been that stupid? _My crush for Jared had blinded me from everything I should have seen.

I covered a sob with my hand. I didn't want to hear anymore. He had said enough, but my limbs weren't responding. My heart and mind were in overdrive, the beating of my heart loud in my ears.

"We thought we lost you for a moment there"

"Nah. Me falling for Kim…" I closed my eyes tightly. Tears spilled from my eyes, but I couldn't care less. "That's stupid." I heard more hands clapping and stupid male things being said, but it was all a loud buzz in my ears.

"We saw the way she looked at you,"

"And that made it more fun."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"Because…I wanted to see if I could win her trust."

"And you obviously did!"

"It wasn't that hard."

"You bad, bad guy."

I almost couldn't breathe, I couldn't see, I was numb. _How could he do this to me? I never thought he could be able to pull off something like this. I was being pranked all along. And here I was thinking that maybe I had a real chance._ I felt a hand on my shoulder, but it was far from comforting.

"What other thing could have been?" Tanya tsked and her minion laughed at my expense. I felt so ridiculous, so used. "I'm sorry really, but you shouldn't have put your eyes on MY man." They laughed even more.

"Hands off!" I heard someone yell. Tanya instantly dropped her hand from me.

"Relax, Kim's fine." Tanya said challenging.

_**Moving on to the next time**__**  
**__**Track the baggage and I'll be fine**__**  
**__**With time to reminisce , you're going to realize you missed this**_

"Take a chill pill Leah," one of Tanya's friends added.

"I will tell you when I need one," Leah said menacing. "Now move!" I flinched at the sound of her voice. "I said move, get the hell out of here!"

It got the contrary effect, because the boys inside class opened the door abruptly.

"What's going on?" Tom asked. "Ohhh…" he added when he saw my crying.

Jared and David followed him outside and their eyes widened when they saw me. I wanted to scream at Jared and ask him why I had been his target. Nothing left my mouth though; I couldn't even look at him.

"Kim." Jared whispered too stunned to say anything more. He didn't need to, he had said enough today.

"Prank is over." David said. That earned him a few glares and a smack in the back of his head. "Ow!"

"What happened here?" Leah asked not too polite.

"Nothing," Jared answered quickly.

"Why is she crying?" She demanded.

"She must have heard about how Jared was playing her," Tanya was cut off by a furious Leah.

"You what?" She let go of me and planted herself in front of Jared. She was a few inches shorter, but she made Jared flinch away from her.

"What are you, Mrs. Righteousness or what? Jared was just joking, big deal!" Tom. "Right man?"

"I…" he looked around at me then his friends and last at his girlfriend. "Yeah." He said softly. I had a bit of hope he would deny it, and tell me it was just a big misunderstanding, that his friends were talking for him, but he just nodded and confirmed how wicked he was. Jared closed his eyes and took a deep breath. I saw his body tremble, maybe he was trying not to laugh.

"Who do you think you are?" Leah roared. I knew about her attitude problem, but I never thought she would be able to scream at the top of her lungs to a bunch of boys bigger than her. "You are sick." Jared put a hand over her head as if he had a temperature and whispered something. I didn't know of what else he was capable of, so I decided to intervene. I didn't want him hurting Leah.

"Leah," I said in a weak voice. I hated myself for showing everyone what kind of power Jared got over me. "Stop, I had enough."

_**You're in my mind for the last time**__**  
**__**And at the most you were a past time**__**  
**__**I'll wave goodbye when you say hello**_

I felt like I could trust Leah, but after everything that happened, I was afraid to be exposed to them, so I did the most embarrassing thing I could have done. I ran.

I ran until my legs have up, and that was deep in the woods. I sat down in the grass, not caring if the moist soft floor was soaking my jeans. I hugged my knees and cried for what seemed hours. My sobs were the sole thing that could be heard on the deep green forest. The little animals seemed scared by my cries, and for the first time in a very long time I felt alone.

One thing kept repeating itself in my mind. _How could he? Why? How? Why...? _I knew I would never get the answers, and I didn't want to know. Why didn't I notice before? Why didn't my friends? What did I do to deserve all of this pain? I know teenage drama is far from serious problems, but I at that moment felt like dying. Not only he destroyed me, but destroyed the trust I had in him, and made it for me impossible to trust any other guy in this planet. How far would it have gone? He knew I liked him, why just simple tell me he was out of my league? It would have hurt, but not as much as this. I heard my cell ring, but I couldn't answer at the moment. All I would have done would have been crying over the phone at whomever that called.

When no more tears were falling from my- sure red and puffy- eyes, I looked at my cell.

20 Missed calls.

10 New messages.

Sure they were from the girls and Em. It was already 11:43 p.m., so I grabbed my bag and walked through the woods. It was a ten-minute-walk until I arrived at the backyard of my house. All the lights were on, and a huge turmoil could be heard inside. I opened the back door with my set of keys and made my way to the living room. There were Em texting like crazy and Jordan fidgeting with his hands, trying to distract a sad Halley. Mom appeared yelling over the phone.

"My daughter is missing! We have tried to call her, I'm going crazy with worry. My husband knows nothing yet, but when he does he is going to," something said on the other line made her stop. I didn't know who she was talking with, but she was giving them a piece of my mind. "If we don't find her soon…God help me!"

"Mom," I said softly. She turned around and dropped the phone. She came over to me and hugged me. I thought I wouldn't cry anymore over Jared, but having my mom embracing me like that made me feel loved, and made me remember how alone I felt in the woods. I began crying my eyes out, while mom tried to shush me.

"My baby…" she hugged me tighter. "It's okay."

"Kim!" I heard everyone hugging me from every angle.

"Good Lord! You scared the hell out of me!" Em scolded me. "I got to call your friends, they were looking for you."

I heard her talking to someone and reassuring them I was ok, that I was safe and sound and that they didn't have to kill 'the bastard', as Emma called _him._

I let go of my mom and found myself being squished by two little kids. Jordan was rubbing his face in my stomach and Halley was cutting my blood supply on my legs. I hugged my baby brother and kissed his cheek. It felt good to be loved at least for your family. They let go of me and I went to open the door, someone was knocking furiously.

"THERE SHE IS!" I heard lots of voices and suddenly I was being thrown to the floor. "Don't do this EVER again!"

"I was ready to beat him to a pulp."

"Girls!" My mom scolded, but then she laughed when she realized what that meant.

_**I'm sick of the sleepless, never ending nights**__**  
**__**I just don't care who was wrong or right**_

_**I'm sick of the rumors and the alibis**__**  
**__**You tear me up, I'll cut you down to size**__**  
**_

I went to my room and explained to my girlfriends what they had yet to know, it wasn't as much as I thought. It seems that after I ran away, Leah made kind of a scene in the hallways so when my friends were trying to get to their lockers they heard part of it and left immediately to look for me. They told me how Leah was almost going to beat the shit out of Jared, but refrained and decided to look for me instead. Not before menace him with a 'watch your back Thail". I called Leah and thanked her for sticking up to me and told her to rest, that I was fine.

I told the girls where I was, and that I had been thinking about the incident, but with the amount of things that happened it took me a lot of time, and I didn't realize it was that late. When dad got home, mom told him about me disappearing but that I was fine. He didn't try to talk to me, as I was already in bed. I wasn't sleeping though; I was looking at the ceiling, planning how to go on with my life as if what happened wasn't big deal. How I was going to be in the same class, beside him after all of this shit? I would have to be the bigger person here and just ignore him and the gossip that surely was already sprawled in school.

The next day I was afraid to go to school, especially after the way my family was treating me in the morning. I wasn't some china doll that was going to break! But I let it pass, they were just taking care of me. Classes were the same as always if not for the little whispers which were followed by a glance at my direction. I ignored them though. Later that day I had chemistry with Jared. I had been preparing myself for that hour of hell all day, but my nerves were getting the best of me. I wouldn't cry, I wouldn't look at him nor I would look as if I was embarrassed about nothing, because there was nothing to be ashamed about, I repeated in my head. Tanya was missing today, probably ditching with what I thought would be Jared, but found I was sadly mistaken as he was already on his seat. Someone would say waiting for me. I laughed at that. I sat down ignoring when he stiffened in his seat and looked at me from the corner of his eye. After one hour- that felt more like a year- I was ready to escape and pat myself on the shoulder. I had done good enough. I was stopped by a burning hand on my upper arm. I shrugged it off violently, scared by the difference of temperature. I turned around and found Jared looking at me with a wounded expression. Was he hurt by me shaking of his hand? I wanted to hit him, to scream, but instead I looked him dead in the eye and raised an eyebrow. Obviously he had a last thing to say and I was gracious enough to let him talk.

_**I'm so sick of you, so sick of you**__**  
**__**Sick of all of your little lies**__**  
**__**I'm so sick of you, so sick of you**__**  
**__**So sick of feeling not by your side**_

"I…" he scratched the back of his neck. "What you heard, listen, I never meant to say it." He brought up his hands in a position of surrender.

The sad thing about it: he still looked cute and I wanted to believe him, so bad.

Something inside of me snapped, and the word vomit began.

"You have the nerve the come here and tell me you were wrong? When no one can see you? I know how it works okay, I'm not that stupid! In front of your friends you are the winner! The best of players! You are a coward, if that's the case. And if not you are too!" I pointed at him. Jared was looking at me in pure shock. "I don't know what I prefer to think about you…If you are a heartless self centered jerk or if you are just plain stupid and cannot see that popularity is NOT more important than hurting other people or being who you really are! But I'm going to go with the safest bet: for you this joke isn't over. You are trying to drag me into your twisted plan again. To prove to you and your friends how low a girl with feelings for you can go. Bet it took you long enough to trace another plan, well I'm not falling it for it this time! You can go rot in hell! For all I care you can disappear from here, I can assure that even if you are Jared FRIGGIN Thail, and you think everyone loves you, not even half of La Push high will be TRULY worried about you! Go, be the one everyone wants you to be! I won't stand in your way if you decide to pull this off with other girl. But I warn you: leave me and my friends out of it!" I was panting, but a felt satisfied that I had let it all out. I never thought I would have the guts.

I hadn't noticed but tons of people were watching us, mouth hanging open. I blushed, after all I wanted my tirade to be personal. _Whatever._ I looked at Jared who was looking at the floor, big puffs of air leaving his nostrils. _Was he mad? Well obviously you idiot! You castrated him in front of everyone! _

_Is he going to hit me?_ I hoped not. But I was truly scared. For a moment I thought he just looked like Paul at the party, seriously mad. _Ops Kim, what now? _

_**What you don't know,**__**  
**__**Is how great it feels, to let you go**__**  
**_

When he raised his head I could see he wasn't himself. His eyes were far away and black, deep coal black. He was shaking so bad, for a moment I worried he was sick or something worse, but then thought better and crossed my arms and waited for him to say something. When all he did was shake; I decided to put an end to our conversation.

"Everything said then," I took a step towards him but stopped dead in my tracks. Jared growled, like animal growl and bared his teeth at me. I would have laughed at him for being so childish, but when I saw his face twist in one of pure rage I backed away. Suddenly I was being pushed behind someone's naked back. It was Paul, I gasped in surprise. Where did he come from? He was fixated on Jared and was trying to calm him down. When that didn't work, he pushed him until they were out the school. I stood there terrified of what just happened. After all I had said to him, I was afraid he was going to do something reckless.

I decided I was going to talk to him after school, maybe I would take down a notch on my speech. What I didn't expect was that I would have to wait two weeks to talk to him again.

_**S-s-s sick of you, so sick of you,**__**  
**__**So sick of you**__**  
**__**What you don't know,**__**  
**__**Is how great it feels, to let you go**_

_**

* * *

**_

**Jared's a douche i know :P Not for long! Tell me what you think! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**I got to thank you, amazing reviewers, for your support.****It means a lot!** And special thanks to my friend C.R. who helped me think about some thing in this chapter and encouraged me to go on with it! Love ya girl! **Thanks to the people who put me on their favs and alerts too :D I hope you enjoy this new chapter. It's totally different (i hope so) because is in Jared's POV! With this chapter I just wanted to explain what Jared was thinking about the whole new friendship fiasco. On the following chappies I would explain better how he is adapting to his wolf body and wolf buddies! Stay tuned! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Em, Jordan, Jasmine, Kayla, Lily, Ang... :)**

**STUCK WITH EACH OTHER **** Chapter 5: **_**Not born for this**_

_**Welcome to my life - Simple Plan**_

**Jared POV**

**~º~º~º~º~º~º~º~º~ºSomewhere in the woods~º~º~º~º~º~º~º~º~º**

_I suck at being a werewolf._

There's not such a thing as a book with rules which says how to be a nice and trained furry ball, but I suck at it, big time.

I don't know what I would have done at school if not for the sudden appearance of Paul.

He had been stalking me, along with Sam, for six days in a row. I was growing anxious at the thought of them wanting to suck me into their weird little cult. At first it started as Paul suddenly appearing near my front porch, like he was just passing by, casually waving at me, like it wasn't weird at all that he was missing from school and the whole La Push high wasn't going crazy with the thought of him sick for so many days. Then there was Sam who conveniently appeared whenever I was hanging with my friends or doing simple chores as going to the grocery store.

_**Do you ever feel like breaking down?**__**  
**__**Do you ever feel out of place?**_

To say I didn't have the guts to go and tell them to fuck of was an understatement. Not that I was scared about them, but those guys were buffed. I don't have anything against body builders, don't get me wrong, but to get that kind of grown spurt in no more than a week was ridiculously impossible. So, when Paul Hill himself tried –more like did- dragged me to the frigging woods my freaky tremble did not improve. I had the more stupid ideas about my shaking. One of them was if I was epileptic and mom hadn't told me anything. It seemed as if I was about to explode. _Ha! I did._

"**How are you doing pup?" **Paul thought.

"**You just phased a week before me, don't be so stuck up." **I tried to knock him to the ground with my wolf body. We were larger than the normal ones, which was useful in times of need like this.

"**Show respect to your elders, son." **He barked while trying to push me.

"**Arggg, shut it!" **He knew how to put me in a bad mood. It wasn't that hard, we always were on a short fuse these days.

I stopped pushing, and as fast as lightning I ran to the other side of the field. Paul, who didn't expect me to stop pushing, pushed the empty place where I once was and fell to the floor, snout first. I had never laughed that much in my life. I rolled onto my back and left some barks of amusement.

"**I'll show you respect!" **He growled and came charging at me. I tried to outrun him, but he caught me and bit my front paw, hard.

"**Fuck! Paul I was messing with you man! Ow!"**

I tried walking in three legs, taking little steps and jumping a little bit, but my paw was hurting really bad. I decided to stop where I was and sat on my hind legs, licking my wound repeatedly.

"**Don't cry pup, it will heal before you notice." **

"**But while it heals it hurts!" **A big whimper left my mouth. I sounded like a big dog being told not to touch his favorite shoe. Luckily our wolves' genes made my wound heal in less than a minute.

"**What were you thinking about?"** Asked my wolf buddy; totally changing his demeanor. That was Paul for you.

_**Like somehow you just don't belong**__**  
**__**And no one understands you**_

"**How I ended up here looking at you furry ass." **I pictured in my mind his fat ass for him to see. He just chuckled and thought I was jealous of him. Poor desilusional dog.

"**Do you remember the day you first phased?" **There was a hint of mockery in his voice. I couldn't blame him though, if it hadn't been me the one freaking out I must have found it hilarious.

FLASHBACK:

**~º~º~º~º~º~ºJared's house ~º~º~º~º~º~**

I woke up feeling funny, like I had been all month. It was like something was growing inside of me. Like there was fur growing inside of me. I know, weird, disgusting and crazy, but it was a feeling I couldn't describe. Just as I was getting a shower- I had to put the water to its maximum because it wasn't hot at all- my wet hands made the soap slip and it fell in my foot. It didn't hurt but I was furious, mad at me and the soap.

_What's wrong with me? The soap slipped, so what? _But at the same time I was thinking:why did I have to be so fucking clumsy? I began shaking, I felt my body tremble while I tried to calm myself breathing deeply. I grabbed the tablet of soap and crushed it in my hands not letting it slip again. I was so mad at the little piece of shit for falling at making me look like a fool. I amazed myself when I saw that indeed I turned the tablet into flat good-smelling white dough. _What had I done?_ The trembling got worse as I sprayed water in little drops across the shower. I let the dough fall and supported myself in the wall letting the water hit me in the back of the neck.

Taking big puffs of air the trembling subsided and I was myself again, sort of. I got scared of the episode I had in the shower; it wasn't the first time. It at started a month ago, when Tanya and I were making out on the back seat of her car in front of her house after a date we just had. We were having a great time at the movies- she couldn't keep her hands to herself and I loved it- and she was laying on her back while I was on top of her, my hands sneaking their way to her breasts. She was kissing me, more like sucking my tongue in her mouth, her hands on my hair. She moved her mouth to my neck and bit down a little bit harder that I would have liked. I tried to shrug her off but she was adamant on leaving a bite mark on my neck.

"Stop." I told her as I was undoing her bra. She didn't comply and giggled biting again.

"Tanya what are you doing," I pulled away from her and looked at her uncomfortable. "I told you to stop it."

"It didn't look like you wanted me to." She tried to say seductively. It didn't work with me, and I stared at her coldly. I couldn't comprehend why, but I snapped at her.

"Don't do that EVER again."

"Aw, come on," Tanya grabbed my face with both hands and nuzzled her face on my neck. "I want to leave a mark on you." She whispered before trying to bite again. I felt my skin crawl at the thought of her leaving a mark on my body. I didn't know why. I pulled away totally and made my way out of the car. I felt like there was not enough air for the two of us and told her to stay and to leave me alone. She was looking at me bewildered. It took me one week to get on her good grades again, but she understood not to bite me like that and we were good again.

I chuckled at the thought of my aversion to hickeys or marks or whatever... _I didn't have one; just I didn't want her to mark me. _Something inside of me couldn't stand it.

Shaking off the feeling…

* * *

"**You're such a girl. You know hickeys fade, don't you?" **Paul shook his big head and looked at me with pity.

"**Damn it, let it go." **I growled.

* * *

Shaking off the nerves I felt, I quickly got dressed. I looked at myself in the mirror as I took in the changes that my body had gone through. I wasn't near as muscled as Sam or Paul for that matter, but I was putting on a few pounds. All of pure muscle. I knew girls in school were ogling me non-stop, and it was nice. Although I had Tanya, there were a lot of girls I could picture myself with.

Then I thought about the one girl I knew for sure wanted to be with me: Kim Connweller. Or at least wanted…until yesterday that is. I sighed.

_I fucked up big time yesterday afternoon_, I thought.

She didn't deserve the things I had said, or the way I treated her afterwards. I was just so self conscious, _my friends and Tanya were there_. I wanted- no- I should have told my friends the truth, but it was easier to let them think I was a jerk, which led Kim to think I was a major asshole. _Who would have thought she was listening to us? She was supposed to be in class!_

And then, there was Leah. I trembled, but from fear. I was bigger, stronger…yada yada, but she got this twinkle in her eyes that told anybody who wanted to mess with her better not to try_. I'd better apologize_. Shudder.

_**Do you ever wanna runaway?**__**  
**__**Do you lock yourself in your room?**__**  
**__**With the radio on turned up so loud**__**  
**__**That no one hears you screaming**__**  
**_

But that wasn't the point and I knew it. I was wrong and if mom ever found out what I had done she would rip me another one. She didn't raise me to be like that, I knew how to treat women, but I had a moment of weakness. I thought about going to her and apologize; I just hoped she wouldn't make a scene while I tried to talk to her. I felt bad when I saw her crying because of me. I would have to explain to her I didn't mean that conversation to get so out of control, but that I didn't have that kind of feelings for her. She just wasn't for me. Even if something about her really attracted me.

I blamed it on her looks. She was easy on the eyes, and knowing she had a major crush on me, made my ego burst. It was only natural I felt some kind of appreciation and curiosity about her, right?

_Appreciation? Really? What about when you were thinking it was Kim, in her cute little dress, who was making out with you instead of Tanya at Tia's party? Why did you miss talking to her at the bonfire when she didn't appear? Was that curiosity? _I groaned and pushed it to the back of my mind. I was a hormonal teenage boy, and she was always there, almost drooling over me, it was just normal. One thing I had clear in my mind: I wasn't into Kim Connweller. Or so I thought.

I knew I wouldn't see her till late on the day, and I was dreading it. I know I know, I was an idiot able to flirt with her and break that poor girls heart, but I wasn't brave enough to go and take it like the man I supposedly was. I sighed again. It would be just so easy to walk away and forget we became some sort of friends. But I didn't like the idea. _If I could just convince her to go on with our friendship but on a low profile all would be alright..._ _No, it wouldn't_. She wouldn't accept it and deep inside of me I didn't want that either. _I don't even know what the hell I want. I'm such a pussy! _

I began shaking again, but not as worse as before. I was able to get calm quickly enough, grab my bag and have a small breakfast in record time. I was still hungry, but I couldn't be late again. _If my parents ever found out how much I miss class they would send me to a military school_. Not that I believed that fully, but I felt better watching my back.

My dad, Michael Thail, made his way over to the freezer and looked inside satisfied.

"Glad you left something there for us to eat, son." He said amused.

Okay, so I must have been eating a little bit more as of now, so what? I felt anger rising inside of me. _Really now, what's up with you today? Dad's just being dramatic_. I grumbled a response, not sure what he wanted to hear only to receive a pat on my shoulders. "Grumpy heh! Where do you put it?" He asked more to himself. I rolled my eyes and said my goodbyes before we got enrolled again on how I could eat that much and not gain a single pound of fat. I put on my jacket – which I didn't need because I was ridiculously warm- and headed to my car.

**~º~º~º~º~º~º~ºLater, La Push High School~º~º~º~º~º~º~**

First hours went by without a glance of Kim, but tons of glares from her friends and a few snares from Leah. _Would I have to apologize to them too? Probably. _Sigh. Tanya hanged of my arm the whole day, which was making me rather grumpy. I just felt off, and her perfume was helping to my incoming headache. I couldn't understand it, but somehow everyone must have phoned each other and agreed on putting on lots and lots of perfume. The smell was excruciating and confusing. At least Tanya wasn't calling me out on my body temperature anymore. We had our episode about that too.

_**No you don't know what it's like**__**  
**__**When nothing feels all right**_

At lunch it wasn't different, the mix of smells getting my attention while the loud sound of people talking everywhere distracted me from the conversation my friends held. I shook my head and tried to get on with what David was saying, but regretted it when I focused on what they were talking about.

"…then we went outside, the chick was crying and this girl here," he said pointing to Tanya. "Had the biggest evil smile I've ever seen." He chuckled. Tanya had the nerve to look cocky. Immediately I saw red. They were having fun out of this? Laughing at the pain of someone else? What kind of fuckers were they? I got up and took deep breaths. I swear I could hear the heartbeat of everyone in the table stop for a second. I shook my head again and threw off my jacket. I was asphyxiating.

"Are you that sick or what?" I yelled at them. A few of heads turned on my direction, and I was oh so tempted to flip them off. "I need to get out of here." I let go of the chair I was holding myself up with, and began walking to the picnic tables outside the cafeteria.

I sat down on a table and tried to get calmed as fast as I recalled the way I destroyed the tablet of soap. I was slightly shaking again, head on my hands which where resting on my knees. I felt so alone. I couldn't right my wrongs with Kim if my own friends were being such insensitive retards.

I was officially a girl.

I rolled my eyes at myself. If I had just ignored Kim when I had the chance to do so, I wouldn't have got into that mess. A part of me agreed; the other half couldn't conceive the idea of not get to know the real girl who lay beneath so many layers of shyness.

My ears perked up at the sound of rustling behind the bushes. I shot my head to the left and saw Paul coming out of the woods, in just worn out cut offs. No shoes, no t-shirt. _What's up with him? Was he stalking me?_ My breath hitched at the thought of him watching my every move. I clenched my fist signaling to him I didn't want to be disturbed. He got it all wrong, and seemed even more determinate to approach me. I heard footsteps coming behind me and I turned my head at Tanya, who was making her way to me carefully. She looked like a scolded puppy. Good for her.

"Baby, what's up with you today?" She said to me sweetly. I went to tell her to stay where she was, I didn't want her to see the creep that Paul had become, but when I looked again at the bushes Paul wasn't there anymore. Had I imagined it all?

"Did you saw…" I began to ask her, but stopped abruptly. What if I was sick and I was hallucinating? Tanya was already aware of my changes, no need to "worry" her even more.

"What?" She asked tentatively.

"Nah, just… Why did you come here?" I asked a tad bit harsher that I intended. She didn't seem to notice though.

"You snapped at everyone in there," Tanya shrugged her shoulders. "I figured something we said really angered you."

"Huh," what I was supposed to tell her? That I didn't mean to embarrass Kim? That she knew the real me while my own girlfriend didn't know me at all? I looked away and sighed. Fucking teenage drama.

"So?"

_**You don't know what it's like**__**  
**__**To be like me**_

"I had a rough, uh…awakening," I decided to lie. It was becoming easier and easier. "Forget about it."

"Awakening?" Her tone was totally different, she was almost purring. It made me pay her attention. "What could I do for you?" She asked latching her arms around my neck and bringing her face close to mine. I got hit by her perfume and nuzzled my nose on her neck, my hands keeping her close. I tried to get lost on her body like so many times in the past, but something was holding me back. I just couldn't.

"I don't think so." I said before thinking. Sometimes my filter brain-mouth stopped working. Always at the worse time possible.

Tanya let go of me and stood before me, hands on her hips. I was so not up to this right now.

"Can you tell me what's wrong with you? The truth this time." She glared at me. I could tell she was hurt by my rejection. "This," she said pointing between the two of us. "Has been going for too long, I'm getting tired of this!"

"Babe now's not the moment for this," I rubbed the back of my neck, her shrieks causing several pain to my ears. "No one is more tired than me right now." And again the filter went MIA. "Sorry."

"I'm just sick of the distance between you and me. What happened to you?" I groaned, she couldn't just let it go. "First, you don't want me to bite you or mark you or whatever, sometimes you don't even touch me! And don't forget about your outbursts here and there, then you are always sorry. Don't you want me? 'Cause there are plenty of guys everywhere ready for me!"

"If you are so damn tired and there are so many guys wanting you then go with them and let me be for a second!" I snapped before I could make sense of what I was saying. I saw her eyes widen and her breath get ragged as she contemplated if it was better to bitch slap me or kick me in the balls. Before Tanya could make her decision the bell rang. Ever heard the expression saved by the bell?

_**To be hurt**__**  
**__**To feel lost**__**  
**__**To be left out in the dark**_

"Fuck you." Those were her last words.

I had never felt more relieved in my whole life.

I thought she was going to ignore me the rest of the day, but seeing it was Friday she decided to ditch and ignore me since the comfort of her house. _Whatever floats her boat. _

Before I could realize it, I was sitting in chemistry class. To top it off I was early, the irony of life. I kept holding my breath every time a new student made their way to their seats, so after ten classmates had arrived I was already out of breath. Seeing that Kim wasn't going to make her appearance anytime soon, I decided to get ready for class- as ready as I always was- which gave me a couple of minutes of pure sanity. Looking for the chemistry book in my rather full-of-books bag I heard the chair besides mine being moved. I stiffened instantly, not the reaction I was expecting to have at seeing her again, and tried not to look like a complete idiot while looking at her. From the corner of my eye I could see her hard profile which didn't even twitch when she caught me peeking at her.

She had nerves of steel. I would give her that.

Any other girl would have been blushing from the embarrassment she had to go through (thanks to me), or trying not to cry, but she kept staring firmly at the board as if her life depended on it. Who wasn't as calm as he wished, was me. I couldn't stop thinking how to approach her without her telling me to 'fuck off', but I guessed if I wrote my apology on a sheet of paper she might rip it or just write a more offensive reply. I couldn't have any of that.

Apparently the teenage population of La Push didn't know how to be minimally discrete, cause they were whispering to each other about the scene Leah did in the hallway. I saw Kim glare at a pair of girls who where almost yelling at us: "How low was the chance that I would fall for her." It sickened me. I had said that.

Saving my thoughts to myself was eating me away, so when the bell rang I sighed in relief knowing my hour of self-inflicted torture was over. I spaced out for a second, gathering my thoughts which were a blur in my fuzzy mind, and when I opened my eyes having enough courage to say a merely 'Hi' I found emptiness. Nothing. Nada.

It hit me like a ton of bricks that even if she played it cool in front of me- and the whole gossip idiots- as soon as the bell rang she had ran out of class like a bat out of hell. I hated myself for that.

_**To be kicked when you're down**__**  
**__**To feel like you've been pushed around**_

Sighing, I put my things on my black bag in a very lazy haphazardly way and made a sprint to catch up with Kim. Just when I thought I might have given her too much time to get away from me, I found her making her way to her next class, avoiding her locker. Figures.

I didn't notice I was almost two feet away from her, when my hand shot up and grabbed her upper arm holding her in place. She must have recognized me, because she shrugged it off as if I had burned her. Maybe I did. She turned around, a mix of surprise and sudden confusion. Which one was caused by me presence, I wouldn't know. Seeing her, really having her in front of me, looking up to me like that brought thoughts of the little time we had to know each other. I saw her opening to me little by little, and now we were in the first step all over again. I didn't know why, but I was hurt.

Her green eyes had me starstruck for a moment until one perfect eyebrow shot up. Her expression hard and full of mistrust. All I had been thinking that could possibly solve part of the problems I had caused, went flying out the window when I saw her shut down before me. I knew whatever I said wouldn't buy me the forgiveness I so desperately- and weirdly- thirsted for, so I blurted out the first thing that resembled to an apology that came to my mind.

"I…" I stuttered stupidly. I scratched the back of my neck, uncomfortable. "What you heard, listen, I never meant to say it." I wanted to excuse myself and make her see I was on her side. I raised my hands in surrender.

I saw what I thought was some softening from her part, but the tiny ray of hope I had was smashed when suddenly Kim was having my ass on front of everyone in school for them to see.

As I listened to her and how deep her feelings of hurt ran I began to shake. Like the whole shaking I'd been holding that morning was coming back to taunt me.

Some things she said weren't even true. I never wanted to prank her, nor was I such a player. I definitely wasn't going to try that with any other girl, nor I had 'traced another plan'-not in a bad way anyway.

What hurt the most: she was right when she said I was a coward. She was right when she told me that even if I was popular not the half of the population that worshipped me would truly care if I suddenly disappeared. I was a self centered jerk and I let other people changed me into something I never wanted to be.

I was enraged at myself; I was too weak to notice I was being sucked in the high school cliché. How did I come to this? How many people had I hurt this way? I guess I would never know because no other had the balls to come and yell at me like I deserved.

I hadn't even realized that Kim took a step towards me, invading my space. I wanted to tell her to stay away from me, that she wasn't safe around me being like this, but all that came out was a piercing growl.

_Had I just fucking growled!_

I couldn't see Kim's face because I was trembling too much, all was a blur. I had never felt more out of control in my whole life, it was terrifying. I felt two hands- not cold to my touch which was severely rare these days- grab my face and I did make out some words being said beneath the sickening sound of my heart beating erratically.

_**To be on the edge of breaking down**__**  
**__**And no one's there to save you**__**  
**__**No you don't know what it's like**_

"…Jared…now…" I thought I knew the voice but I was so out of myself, I didn't find it to myself to care. "…calm…woods…" _It's Paul? What is he doing here? Why is he dragging me outside? _Those questions kept repeating themselves in my head I don't know for how long until we were in the forest, La Push high out of sight.

What had they done to me? I asked myself. Paul let go of me, which helped me to get in control, even if it was a little bit. It was quickly gone when Sam appeared by his side, the same pitiful looks on their faces. I wanted to scream at them but there was more growling and barking. I felt to my knees as my lungs constricted painfully, my bones readjusting in the most impossible angles. I felt a sudden energy growing inside of me which wanted to rip me apart.

"Let it flow," I heard Sam say wisely. "Don't fight it."

_WHAT THE HELL IS HE SAYING? WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?_

Whatever I shouldn't fight overcame me as I reopened my eyes and found myself looking at Paul and Sam from a taller angle. _When did that happen?_ I was able to concentrate more on the fact that I was in all fours after the pain had subsided and noticed that the energy made me feel more alive that I had ever been. I felt shaky on my legs though.

Trying to escape from my sure to be attackers I took a step back only to fall on my butt. I looked at the grass and saw… FOUR PAWS? WHAT THE HELL!

_**Welcome to my life**_

I began examining myself better and found I was covered in deep brown fur, I had a tail, that I could move my ears at will and that I could lick my nose- or muzzle. I looked at Paul who was smirking widely before me. I got scared he might run away telling everybody the big freak I was. We weren't such good friends anyway.

"**No one is going to tell anybody." **A voice that sounded a hell of a lot like Sam's voice said in my head.

"**Sam? Where? Why is happening this to me? God, WHAT THE HELL I AM?"**

"**Good Lord, keep your thoughts in order will you? You are going to gave me a headache." ** I heard a bark behind me and I turned my whole hairy body around and caught sight of a big shit black wolf. It looked at me as if he knew me, which was rather impossible and tried to get closer to me.

"**What in the name of God is that?" **I shrieked. Very girly I may add.

"**It's me Sam. I'm not going to hurt you. Now get calm."**

"**Wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me, this giant beast is Sam Uley? Okay joke's over. I never did drugs I swear, this is not supposed to happen. I promise not to touch weed ever again. I was just curious and my cousin said it was awesome, but I won't ever, ever, come near that shit again, now please stop this madness." **

"**We are not cops." **I hear Paul laugh in my head. **"Not of that kind." **

"**Paul?"**

"**No, I'm your conscience."**

"**Paul shut it!" **

"**Got it, Sheriff."**

"**Stop calling me nicknames."**

"**Okay Alpha."**

"**Just stop talking!"**

Whine.

_**Do you wanna be somebody else?**__**  
**__**Are you sick of feeling so left out?**_

"**Well, that's not talking." **I thought, Sam laughed lightly. I heard a menacing growl at my left. Another huge beast, this time gray colored was baring his teeth at me. I saw an image of another wolf looking rather freaked out. I figured it was me. _Was the gray wolf thinking about me? Could I see his thoughts?_** "How welcoming…"**

"**He has a short fuse, nothing personal." **Sam, or the wolf who claimed to be Sam, sat down on his hind legs and motioned with his head for me to do the same. You will think sit down will be easy. It wasn't. I almost broke a leg.

When we were settled and Paul didn't have the chance to say more stupidities, Sam proceeded to tell an old story my grandfather told me and I never believed.

END FLASHBACK

**~º~º~º~º~º~ºBack in the woods~º~º~º~º~º~**

"**You did a number on that girl..." **Paul said scratching the back of his head with his back leg.

"**I feel bad okay? She is going to hate me for the rest of her life." **I flattened my ears and whined.

"**Don't worry, it was like a life time ago." ** He yawned and stretched.

"**The fact we live half of our time as 'dogs' doesn't mean time pass as fast for us as for the real animals you know." **I rolled my eyes. It was quite funny to see a wolf showing human emotions.

"**Good times good times…"**

"**It was just TWO weeks ago." **I let myself fall in the middle of a field of wildflowers back first.

"**Stop playing pups." **We heard our alpha command us. **"Time to work!"**

And with that we were chasing disgusting sweet reeking bloodsuckers all over again.

"**News?" **Asked Sam, running faster straight to us.

"**Nope."**

"**Nah." **As I was inspecting the area Sam had assigned to us, I found a small animal trying to hide. I followed it closely.** "What is that?"**

A rabbit froze in front of me and I stopped running. It was scared and I felt kind of sorry for it. I'm sure it was thinking: What the hell did I do to deserve being eaten by overgrown wolves? It was me not long ago who had the same thought.

"**Gag me, I would never try to bite your scrawny ass." **Paul being the smartass he was had to reply to every thought I had.

I barked at him and the bunny began jumping everywhere trying to get away from us. I began chasing it, jumping over falling logs and stones till I caught up with it and put a paw in front of him, encircling it. I tilted my head to the side and when it saw I wasn't going to hurt him- I noticed it was a he- he got closer to me and touched and sniffed me.

"**Isn't he cute." **Paul joked, but touched it lightly with his overgrown paw. **"It's little."**

"**And doesn't have any sense of self preservation." **Sam rolled his eyes and nudged Paul with his snout.

"**We are not going to hurt it." **I quickly said when the rabbit cowered from Sam.

"**Let go of the animal." **The black wolf commanded tiredly. **"How can you get distracted by a single rabbit? God help us. Some protectors you are."**

"**We are bored...there are no leeches around here, apart from the Cullens…And we cannot touch them." **Paul huffed angrily. I nodded my big head and got up. My rabbit friend left before we got the idea of making him part of our meal.

"**If at least we could relate with someone out here…I miss my mom." **I let that slip. That wasn't the only thing I missed. I was starving for real food. Having to hunt cold raw food from nearly living animals was not the ideal idea of a meal.

"**You can go back tomorrow if you want." **Sam conceded. "**In fact…You two know you have to go back to school sometime, right?"**

"**NOO!"**

"**Why?"**

"**You need an education," **he said like he was talking with two toddlers.** "You cannot stay as Cujo and Scooby forever." **We growled at him. It had been his nickname for us the whole time we spent together. I was Scooby, the smarter one. Paul tried to bite my ear, I wasn't having it this time.

It's not that I didn't want to go back to school, or study for that matter. But, the thought of having a double life that no one could know of was very depressing. It wasn't as Clark Kent pictured it to be, it wasn't cool at all. At least I could tell my parents; luckily they were part of the council.

_**Are you desperate to find something more?**__**  
**__**Before your life is over**__**  
**__**Are you stuck inside a world you hate?**_

"**He is just scared to go back to his girlfriend and poor Kim." **Paul sniggered.

"**Shut up," **

"**You can always tell your imprint about your wild life." **Sam thought, his mind consumed of images of Emily. Paul laughed at the term 'wild life' and began thinking about how many girls could he get to bed with his new looks.

"**Don't even get me started on the imprinting crap…"** I would rather not to think about such desilusional concept.

"**Whatever," **Our alpha replied grumpily, having to cut short his mentally rant about his imprint because of my sullen mood about the subject. Not that he stopped fully anyway, there were always thoughts of his girlfriend on the back of his mind. "**You are going back next Wednesday."**

"**Damn it Sam!" **Both, Paul and me, yelled on our heads. Sam seemed amused though.

I began to think about the time when Sam told us about imprinting. It was a way to find our true soul mate. How can you by just a look fall in love? We could see everything in his mind: they way he looked at Emily, and other private things I would rather not remember. Having to share the 'pack mind' was more a liability than a blessing as Sam put it. You have no privacy of any kind. It was disturbing at times, unbearable when Paul was thinking about determinate topics.

Anyway, he told us imprinting was about finding the perfect match not only to complete you but to have the strongest off spring possible. Psht. As if I was thinking about having some cubs. We knew it was rare, and it possibly wouldn't happen for us, but the idea of being a slave for life just by looking at some random chick in the eyes, was like playing the Russian roulette. You don't know when your damn life would be over.

Love and devotion at first sight, and forever! Hmmmppff…I wasn't so convinced.

_**No you don't know what it's like**__**  
**__**Welcome to my life**_

_**

* * *

How was it? Should I stop writing on Jared's POV? lol Tell me what you think! :D**_


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm back! I know i suck... it took me forever, but college it's being really hard... Anyway, here it is... Hope you enjoy it! :D**

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. **

**STUCK WITH EACH OTHER ****Chapter 6: **_**Hot and Cold**_

_**As if – Blaque**_

**Let me explain this to you****  
****See I'm not gonna let you run me**

First, my iPod didn't go off when it was supposed to. Then mom began yelling at me like the house was on fire just because I was the one driving today, and little sneaky Jo Jo was going to be late for class. To make matters worse, I found out there wasn't a _filthy_ flake of cereal in the whole kitchen. How was that even possible! It definitely was the worst morning ever.

I tried to look good- not because certain someone could possibly be at school. I just wanted to feel good with myself for once, even if it was just looking pretty. *Snort* as pretty as I could go. But fate had to hate my guts or something as bad as that.

Em always says: "When you need things to go fast, all gets screwed." Well, I found out I was unable to put on make-up that morning. Applying- or trying to apply- mascara to my eyelashes I poked my eye with the stick. My eye immediately turned red. No need to say I looked adorable.

Grabbing my keys and putting on my jacket I ran into dad, who was searching for his keys too. There were signs of light irritation in his face: brows scrunched and lips in a tight line. _He forgot again where he left his keys. _

"Dad, you're getting old," I told him, my mood improving. "Look in your coat pockets, will ya?"

He grumbled and did as he was told, and sure enough found them. I smirked and made my way out the house where Jordan was waiting for me to start the car. I couldn't wait till he was able to drive himself around. _He could walk too. God gave him two powerful legs._

"Finally…" said my almost frozen brother. I felt bad for him, but I was cranky and I was dragging every single soul with me. "What happened to you?" He guffawed when he saw my red eye. I rolled my eyes and grumbled at him to get on the car, which he did, laughing at me of course.

~º~º~º~º~º~º Minutes Later, La Push High ~º~º~º~º~º~

I was late for my math's class, but I didn't want to run, I might kill myself. With the bad luck I had that morning I was really considering it. All four- Kayla pretty shaken by the fact that she was the one to get later to school today- were walking to our first classes, when I heard Lily and Angela talking behind my back.

**How we're gonna do it is...****  
****I'm gonna run you**

"Well, if she… then we…now…even…" I heard Ang gushing out. They were like yell-whispering at each other, like arguing about something. I tried to stay out of it, but when I heard my name enter on the conversation I couldn't help but concentrate on what they were saying.

"No…maybe they don't…Kim would definitely…" Lily had the same nervous edge in her voice.

I got self conscious and felt like every teen in school was looking at me and whispering to them about something I did. I got irritated. I didn't like attention, in fact I hated it, and today wasn't really a good one to mess with me. I couldn't come up with some reason as to why my own friends were acting so weird, but looking at Kayla and noticing she was as lost as me, made me feel better. At least I wasn't alone on the joke.

When it got too much to bear I decided to intervene.

"Stop!" I scolded my two friends, whom stopped arguing and looked like deer's caught on the head lights. If I wasn't so grumpy I would have laughed at them. "What's going on? You were talking about me, so you are going to tell me. Now." I demanded in a more controlled tone.

"Ermm…" Angela fidgeted with her hands. "Lily, will tell you." Li gave Ang her 'what the hell?' glare. Kayla was as lost as me.

"It's no big deal…Jared's back." My breath hitched. "Paul too." Added on a tired note, for Ang's benefit I suppose.

Jared was back? After two weeks of a mysterious disappearing! Where did he go? Why did he left? Did I have something to do with it? Will he blame me? Will he talk to me? All those question sure were reflected on my face because Angela told me to stop freaking out.

"I…" Why hadn't I seen him?

_Because you were late. Shit. Freaking cereals._

I will have to talk to him, I thought scared. I had been waiting for what seemed like years, and now here he was. I gulped.

"He is changed, like Paul. They are so big and muscular! They have sinister eyes, like they're going to kill someone, is scary." Explained Li. My head was hurting from all the scenarios that had ran through my mind in just a few seconds.

"What? That's impossible girls, you are so dramatic." I said trying to gain some of my lost bravado_. If they knew how much I want to see him and talk to him, they would me so mad at me._ They crossed their arms and looked at dead serious. They did not like when someone didn't believe on what they were saying. Those two were much alike on that part.

"We saw him!" Angela tried to convince me. How was I supposed to believe dick-head had grown to an over sized version of himself?

"They were only gone two weeks!" I tried to reason with them, but it seemed there was no way I could convince those two. "Even if," I heard Kayla gasp by my side and I turned to look at her. Her eyes were looking at someone far away. I turned my head to the left where I could see the reason why my friend almost fainted.

**You, you've got a lot of nerve****  
****I guess you haven't heard****  
****I'm doin' fine out here on my own**

I gasped too.

Jared Thail was there besides Paul Hill, both standing against their lockers. They were just wearing a simple T-shirt, with no sleeves, cut offs and sneakers. Now that wouldn't be weird unless we were on the last days of October and it was really cold outside. Very cold. But it wasn't only his weird-dangerous look which had me awestruck, his face had changed too. There were no signs of innocence or playfulness in there anymore, but seemed rather an experienced man who had been burdened with a million of obligations. His black eyes were fierce and calculating, as if danger might come out from any place at any moment. The roundness of childhood had left and had been replaced by strong square features of a man in his early twenties. What the hell had happened to him?

I wanted to dig a hole and crawl in it just at the sight of him. If I had been scared of his chunky self before; now I was terrified. I got to apologize to that…that beast? It was as if he could snap my neck with one glare. He possibly could. I shuddered.

As my thoughts were running wild I felt my friends nudging me and trying to get my attention, but my brain was in overdrive thinking about Jared so I needed Angela's famous shove to came back.

"WHAT!" I shrieked too loudly.

Unfortunately- or not- that seemed to drag Jared's attention, because as soon as it was out of my mouth he turned his head in my direction searching for something. I was frozen on my place waiting for him to notice me and…I didn't know what else.

Would he come and say hi? Or maybe he would tell me to get lost? Neither of the possibilities seemed to appease my mind. I decided to be brave and stay put till he moved, but someone really hated me up there because when Jared's glance was right shot at me, I found out he was looking for something- rather someone- and looking through me.

Anger flooded through me realizing that as always, I was nothing but some invisible girl to him. After all he had put me through, and how sorry he felt, he didn't even noticed me standing right in front of him! Before I did something harsh that I would regret later I stomped my way to the bathroom. My friends hot in my heels.

He might had changed in the outside, but I was sure as hell he was the same meat head than a month ago. And the saddest thing about this? I had hope he would come to me and make things right. How wicked hope could be? I swore to myself I would never let myself feel something for him, and here I was, waiting for an apology.

Stupid me.

**You, you think that you can come****  
****Around here for some fun**

I found out the bathroom was packed. Even if we were supposed to be late, there were lots of girls squealing in happiness. The hot stuff was back and yummier than ever. Their words, not mine. Not that they weren't right… but…

"We wanted to tell you, in case you ran into him." Lily said from the corner of the room. All the heads turned on my direction and began whispering.

I turned bright red, thinking about what they all were gossiping. Why did I think everyone was over what happened almost a month ago? I dead glared a group of girls who were shamelessly pointing at me. They shut up instantly, but I knew better than to wish that they would stop gossiping once I left the bathroom. Really, people should know when to mind their own business.

"I know," I tried to be gentle with them. Ang and Lily were trying to take care of me, even if it fired back. I sighed, knowing full well I would have to put on a brave face for at least another week.

A part of me was relieved Jared was back, because in a twisted sad and wicked way I still cared about him. Idiot much, maybe, but it was who I am. Another part wanted him to disappear and with him all the whispers and pointing stares. Couldn't I catch a break? To top it off, it seemed that Jared was going to be his douche self all over again. Something I definitely didn't want to witness.

"I'm late for class, see you later." I said dully. I wanted to leave and go home, but that only would add more fuel to the problem. I didn't even look back at my friends when I made my way out of the toilette, running to my first class.

It was not easy to stay put in an uncomfortable chair, while teenagers looked at you with curiosity from every angle. I even imagined Mr. Shawn giving me a pitiful glare. Being the talk of the town really sucked.

How was I supposed to cope with all of this? I wished I was as strong as Leah, giving that she went through some deep shit. Every time I even thought how much I wanted to talk to Jared and be his friends again, tears would dwell in my eyes and my bottom lip would quiver. I had to bit my lip hard and look down, avoiding pitiful or mocking glares.

What had I done in other life to deserve this?

~º~º~º~º~º~º~ One hour before lunch time ~º~º~º~º~º~º~

I was hyperventilating, Jared was back! Very changed, very hot, very everything. And I was being very stupid. Here I was trying to lock myself inside of my locker, dreading history class like it was my dead sentence. It could be, I thought bitterly. Who knew how much suffering those idiots had prepared for me? By showing everyone what kind of power Jared had over me I was giving his idiotic group more arguments to play a prank on me, but it was too late to do something about it.

**Don't shake your head from left to right****  
****Saying that you've changed enough**

I knew since the moment I got up something big would happen today, I could smell it in the air. If I hadn't been late for class, I wouldn't have run into a familiar over grown hot man at the end of the hallway to math's class. Jared. My heart stupidly skipped a beat. For a second I thought he was going to turn around, notice me and apologize for being so mean, but he looked right through me, as if I was nothing but air. I felt rejected one more time, and I swore, it would be the last.

As stupid as it sounds I was expecting him to talk to me, say something… anything. Far gone was the hope of being "friends". I didn't know if we were once, but I hoped at least one of our conversations were for real.

_You know they weren't, get over it!_

That leads exactly to where I was, head on the locker, eyes closed tightly. I didn't want to go in there. I was being childish, but I couldn't help it. The first bell rang and I groaned. I wasn't ready for this.

_Which could be the worst scenario?_ _He giving me the cold shoulder or talking to me?_ _Anyway I would ignore him. _Not that it would be easy, but I trusted myself. _Even if later I would have to talk to him about… erm… my speech the day he disappeared. I am going to delay it as much as I can._ Making my way slowly, I told myself to stay my ground, even if he was even willing to make it up to me, I wouldn't give in. _I have pride, values and… more pride._

I would have to stand his presence for one more year and then I will be free. I would go to college, met new people fall in love with the right guy. _It's not like I have to stay with him forever._ With my new found confidence I went straight to my seat and sat chin up in the air, my expression blank. I could do it_. Yes I can!_

I grabbed my canvas and displayed my tiny jars of paint so I could make the prettiest portrait ever. Smiling to myself I sighed and waited for the last bell to ring, which meant Jared arriving, me getting tense… or throwing up. _Way to be confident._

_Heck, it should be him the one to be nervous about coming back after all this time and all the gossip running around_. But as usual everything wasn't the way it was supposed to be, and Jared was pretty calm, he just seemed a little bit angry. Who wouldn't? Sure he had heard about the stupid theories about his disappearance. Some said he was a drug dealer, other he was sick and couldn't get out of bed – guess this proves it was wrong- and other that he was eaten by a wild animal in the forest.

The students filled the class and soon it was Jared taking his seat beside me. I could hear some people whispering, thinking they weren't being that obvious, they were wrong. Jared just sat there, slouched on his chair, doing his best to ignore the snickering and pointing stares.

_He is so big_! At that moment I realized how much he had grown over the weeks. _If he was 5'9 feet tall, now he almost is 6'7!_ It was impossible, I thought to myself. No one grew that much in a couple of weeks. Maybe drugs… I shook my head trying to get rid of such silly thoughts.

I tried not to stare openly, so I decided to look at him from the corner of my eye. He was bored out of his mind, and like the first time I saw him after these three –long, painful, boring- weeks, a frown had taken place upon his gorgeous face.

**That you see the light****  
****Cause you just say what you say****  
**

Yeah, I was mad at him, disappointed too, but I couldn't deny the fact that he was hot, much more than before. It seemed ridiculous, god like. _Kim focus!_

A chill ran through me and I shivered, my confidence wavering each minute he didn't even looked my way. _But that's what I wanted, right?_ The teacher had already begun the lesson and was pretty engrossed on how to paint with a thick brush. I found I was unable to follow this class. I huffed knowing this was another lost hour. I didn't like the feeling of not being able to concentrate because my brain decided to melt because of the closeness of a certain someone.

Trying to push to the back of my mind that Jared was next to me, I decided to paint trying to imitate the teacher's drawing. Needless to say, what was in the canvas, was downright ugly.

I could feel his deep breaths, and I sadly found out that I was completely tuned with him.

He was back, I couldn't help but repeat to myself.

Jared was changed. _What could have happened to_ _him?_ Why was he hanging around with Sam, who he didn't even talk, and Paul? I mean they were acquaintances, but now they seemed pretty friendly talking with each other. Nervousness was getting the best of me, and before I could say something stupid to embarrass me, opted for occupy my hands with the first thing I could grab. _Fill the silence, get your mind off of him._

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap… Each sound was getting me calmer. The sound the brush made when it hit the canvas was slowly distracting me. I felt my nerves loosing up, myself getting calmer when a big russet hand caught the end of the brush on the fly.

I gasped, jumping in my seat, never letting go of my brush. _Really now, what had gotten into him?_ My hand was almost touching his and I could feel the warmth emanating from him. Which, I thought was odd, because he was wearing just a simple T-shirt without sleeves, so he should be freezing.

Biting down at my lip I snatched the utensil from his grasp, without making eye contact, and began painting again. To say I was a nervous wreck was an understatement. At least I had cleaned it before began tapping…if not Jared would have a pink spot in his big calloused hand.

He was so…He had noticed something bothering him, but was too lazy to even look at it. Unfrigginbelievable, that's Jared for you. I was seething; I had never wanted to punch someone as much as I wanted to smack that pretty boy's face.

My hands were sweaty, my heart beating insanely and I was hungry. _Damn, why didn't I eat my cereals this morning? Because my siblings eat them all. _ I began bumping my knee repeatedly, but stopped at the thought of Jared grabbing it to stop me. That would be just awkward.

What's wrong with him? Was he playing the big bad guy role on me? Was he trying to intimidate me? News for you buddy, no one tries to scare me off, much less Jared Thail. I didn't know where this bravado was coming from, but I definitely liked it.

**And want your way****  
****And it's that game that you play****  
****It's a little late**

Exasperated with his attitude I prayed silently for the bell. I needed lunch break, I really needed to see the girls, to tell them how much of a douche bag Jared was. Too much for apologizing and being a gentleman.

HA! I wanted to laugh at my own stupidity.

The bell rang breaking my I-hate-Jared rant. Sighing I grabbed my things not without hearing an irritated huff at my left.

"Finally, I need to get out of here." I heard Jared say angrily.

I scowled at him. _That's being plain rude!_ I wanted to give him my famous pissed off glare but he was at the door already.

_Yeah, run for your life._

I didn't know if it was meant for me to hear, but I did and I didn't like it. This was going to be a long year.

~º~º~º~º~º~º Lunch time, hallways of La Push High ~º~º~º~º~º~º

"So he didn't even turn your way?" Kayla asked me gently.

Not a second after finding them waiting for me next to my locker I explained the whole scenario, ranting about how I was royally pissed at his manners. If I had thought about giving him a slim chance to make it up to me, I turned the idea down at that very moment.

"That guy is messed up," said Lily. "Steroids theory, believe me." I rolled me eyes at her. Here we go again with whole Jared is a druggie. I didn't know why, and it confused me, but I felt the need to defend him.

"That's crap."

All three of them groaned -synchronized - and stopped walking. We were standing a few feet away from the cafeteria main doors, about to reach my goal, but I told my needs to wait. _Grrrll…wait tummy, this is gonna be long._

I could see on their eyes they didn't like one bit how I stood up for him every time. I understood their reasons, but there was no proof with all the drug crap. Because that was all that it was, crap. He was a jerk, but I doubted he was on that thing.

I crossed my arms and waited for their lecture. It was a ten minute speech about self-esteem and how "that boy" wasn't any good for me.

_Someone tell me, what did it have to do me saying he wasn't doing drugs with having a crush on him?_

I rolled my eyes at Angela's words: "You need to get over him ASAP." She wisely told me. Easier said than done! "I am getting there." I whined not fooling anyone.

Once they were finished, each one gave me a hug and tried to make me smile, but their rant just left me cranky, and hungrier. _Some friends I have._

I could hear them going on about finding me a decent guy, and me being the amazing friend I am, decided to get into the cafeteria and avoid any kind of violence directed at them. No harm no foul. I let out all my frustration pushing –maybe with too much force- the doors before me. That turned out to be a bad idea.

**You seem to think that I (I)****  
****Ain't got no sense of pride (Pride)**

"Ow!" I heard a girl yell. It was a high pitched voice I had learnt to hate all those years. I really didn't want to deal with her just after Jared's rudeness and the girls talk. _Tanya isn't on my agenda today._

I entered and saw Tanya rubbing her back, shooting daggers at me. Jared was by her side -surprise surprise- looking angry- another surprise- grabbing one of her hands. They were leaving, together. Alone. _I just interrupted their…gag me. Could this day get any better?_

"Um… I'm sorry I didn't know you were," better to get rid of her quickly, I thought. She didn't let me finish though.

"Save it!" She snapped. "Watch your back, next time you won't be as lucky." She added nearly suppressing the desire to choke me. I _would like to see her trying. Bitch._

I really considered the idea of trying my ninja moves on her. Maybe chopping her fake-plastic-ugly head off. As I was about to retort with some nasty comment, none other but Jared talked to me, the first time in months- maybe I was exaggerating- weeks!

"Will you move out of my…" _Way? Wow, being his lovely self already._ He didn't get to finish, instead he was looking at me with an expression I definitely couldn't comprehend. I raised my eyebrows daring him to continue but no sound escaped his mouth. He had weird glazed eyes. It was freaky.

Tanya looked at him with a confused expression. "Jared," she cooed with his sweetly voice. But his boyfriend wasn't responding. It was like all his attention was on me. His eyes held so many emotions, desperation, relief, surprise, lust ...love? _I'm delusional. _

**Well boy you got a weird perception now **

I couldn't believe my eyes. I wanted to smack him, again. Was he going to make fun of me? Then I got self conscious, maybe I had something on my face. Last time I checked it was spotless. _Maybe it wasn't. Oh god how embarrassing!_ Tanya would have said some smart ass comment about it, the girls would have warned me… _What the hell was he staring at? _I could feel rage igniting inside of me. _What is he doing? You better not be messing with me Jared Thail._

"What's going on," Lily shot daggers to Tanya once she arrived and placed herself by my side protectively. "What are you staring at?" She sneered at Jared.

"Huh?" Jared mumbled- _how eloquent_- not taking his eyes off of me.

"We were leaving honey, you know…" Tanya wrapped her arms around him, in which I supposed was a possessive stance. Sure she wanted to show off that she was with him, no one else. Then it clicked in my head: they were leaving to hook up in some dark corner.

_Yes they were._

Fake blond octopus! Stupid humongous jerk! I should have known better, I chastised myself for believing otherwise. I felt a pang of jealousy and hurt, but used to it by now, I just grimaced.

At this time the whole cafeteria was pointing fingers at us. Jared not even noticed Tanya. He got an idiotic smile on his face and his eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas day. _What was his deal?_ Suddenly Lily's theory about steroids didn't seem as wrong as I thought in the first place.

"Kim, don't listen to her." Angela said.

"Kim…" Jared breathed out smiling wider, even if it was possible.

The nerve of this boy! First he ignores me, almost threatens me, and now he's all smiles you-made-my-day_. I don't know what kind of shit is he smoking, but it is very very cheap. _My eyes bulged out in surprise. _Since when is he openly friendly with me?_ I was confused, and I could tell by everyone expressions they were as confused as me, if not more.

I scoffed loudly and chuckled after over thinking the situation. Here is Jared -the boy I have *cof* had a crush on- trying to be nice to me, when a while ago he wanted me out of his way because he wanted to hook up with his girlfriend or whatever, who was all tangled on him, and glancing at me with a murderous stare. Nice.

"I…umm…do you," he tried to take a step forward, when he realized Tanya was all wrapped over him, keeping him in place. He looked at her; suddenly a terrified look took over his face. Faster than my eyes could catch he was pushing Tanya far from him. Whoever would say she burned him.

**Of what it is to love (Love)****  
****And I am sure because (Because)****  
****You got the look of desperation**

"Jared!" She yelled. It was painfully obvious that she was mad at him: she had both arms on her sides, fist clenched. She just needed to stamp a foot on the floor to look like a rejected child. "What's wrong with you?"

I wanted to laugh, but the weirdness of the situation made it impossible.

He didn't even flinch at the angry words of his "girlfriend". I wasn't that sure anymore, after this scene, and all because of me… I couldn't believe it yet.

When I thought someone was about to jump in front of me and yell GOTCHA! Jared grabbed my hands in both of his.

"It's not what you think,"

Isn't he funny.

"WHAT?"

He was giving ME explanations? It seemed a bizarre dream. I was scared of this Jared. I gasped at his body temperature, I could feel the warmth of his scorching hand. He was burning up! _Just like the day he disappeared._ _Maybe he was sick, that's why he was reacting this way, he is delirious. _

He looked pained, his dark eyes glistening in the dim light of the cafeteria entrance. It looked like he was trying to convince me he wasn't all touchy with Tanya. You have to be blind or stupid to believe that. Everyone in this school knew they knew each other… intimately.

"Let go of me," I told him mad. "What are you doing?" I snatched my hands from his and felt cold instantly. Even if it was wrong, it felt nice_._

_Aw come one, don't be stupid you've been there, don't fall again._

My friends instantly jumped protecting me and shielding me from him. Angela grabbed me while Lily stood proudly in front of Jared, even if she was almost two feet shorter. Kayla just stood by me glaring at Tanya who was freaking out. Now, that was funny. It was weird how my brain always found the humor in the most unlikely of places.

"You ridiculous over grown monkey, stay away from her, you've done enough damage as it is!" I heard Lily say. I gasped at her choice of words, and tried to hide the embarrassment for bringing up the –I hoped forgotten- disaster.

"Why would I stay away? I want to be with her." Jared said with the dumbest expression on his face, not faced or insulted by Li's words.

**Don't shake your head from left to right****  
****Saying that you will when you won't ever see** **the light**

"What?" I said. I realized all the girls, Tanya included, had said the same thing at the same time. Hilarious.

No one laughed, except me. They all turned to look pointedly at me. Jared used his chance to take a step closer to me backing away from Lily.

"Kim could we,"

"No you can't," Angela cut him off angrily. "Why don't you leave with Tanya, you were pretty busy before we arrived."

_Ouch, that hurt. No need to bring it up again, jeez. _I already knew what they were going to do, my thoughts were already troubled. The last thing you want is your friend to say the painful truth out loud. Jared shook his head, denying something undeniable, looking at me, begging at me with his eyes. I couldn't look away, I wouldn't believe him, but he kept giving me his best puppy dog eyes. Fortunately there were people around us- annoying nosy people.

"That's not," Jared tried to explain himself. I thought I saw Tanya almost fainting, but she was just rolling her eyes.

"Don't even go there buddy," Lily waved a hand in front of Jared's face. "Leave now! You don't get to talk to her, ever." Sometimes I thought she and Leah were some kind of far relatives. Maybe cousins? That could be possible.

"Kim, please," he said looking at me with such pleading eyes, and then focused on my friends. "Let her talk!" He spat angrily at Lily.

Anyone could tell he was aggravated with my friends. I could see the fury in his eyes when he talked- or barked- at them, but it was quickly gone when he turned his eyes to me.

"We don't have anything to talk about, I don't know about you, but I think '_I_ _need to get out of here'."_ His eyes widened at my choice of words. He seemed to mumble something under his breath and looked at me regretfully. Finally it dawned on him that the girl he mistreated at class was me. I really was than invisible? The expression on his face just made me more frustrated.

"Tanya, get him out of here!" Angela yelled. Tanya tried to get a hold on him again and drag him wherever they were going, but Jared was having none of it.

He spun around, freeing himself from Tanya's vice like grip and said menacingly to Angela: "Don't tell me what to do." He wasn't yelling but it was the most terrifying stance Jared had ever shown. Ang recoiled from him, but stood her ground.

He began to shake slightly like the last time I saw him. This time though, he seemed more in control as he closed his eyes and took deep breaths, but Lily's words were doing nothing to placate him. I could almost picture him eating Li alive.

"Don't yell at her jackass!" She yelled louder.

**And you just say what you say and want your way****  
****And it's that game that you play****  
**

This is going to end as a yelling match and the last thing I need is for Leah to come here, I thought scared. His shaking got worse to the point he was almost blurring, and as magic Paul was at his side grabbing his arm and pushing him out of the cafeteria along the hallway.

"Jared," Tanya suddenly appeared in front of him. "THIS is too much, when you regain the little sense you had last month, come find me." And then stomped off and left the school. _Way to deal with a crazy boyfriend. Leave him here, for me to cope with his craziness._

"Man relax, she is just a pain in the ass." Paul said glaring at Lily who gaped at him and began to say something but I stopped her.

"Shut up, you're making it worse." I whispered and tugged at her tank top. She shrugged me off and crossed her arms raising a dark eyebrow at Paul. _Who is Paul anyway, his bodyguard? _

"I need to talk to her dude," Jared all but pleaded, trying to stop Paul's pulls. "I can't leave." _Hadn't he heard Tanya leave?_

"You're not in control, Sam is gonna beat your ass," He threatened.

_Sam? What he have to do with this? _Suddenly what mom told me about the La Push gang went through my mind. _**"They told me they go running through the forest like looking for something. They call themselves the Protectors. I don't know what's going on for sure down there, but I don't want you near that 'gang', hear me Kim?"**_

"_**There's not such a thing as a gang mom," I told her rolling my eyes**_

"_**Better safe than sorry."**_

"**W**I don't care!" He got free from Paul's iron grip and ran back to me. "Kim, about before… I didn't want to… I'm sorry." His eyes were pleading again, and full of remorse. He was shaking yet so I thought it wouldn't be wise to touch him, or be near him at this moment.

"Really?" I laughed darkly. "I'm not surprised, after all this is not the first time you didn't mean to be harsh with me…" I said coldly. He looked hurt, and for a second I regretted saying such bitter words. But I couldn't find it in me not to be displeased in his presence. He was instantly angry. _He was mad at me for stating the obvious? He has some nerve!_

**It's a little late**

Jared began trembling again, this time stronger, I took a step back terrified.

"Jared we go now." Paul said in a different tone and took Jared out of the hallway, out of the school and out of my sight…Could I get him out of my mind? I felt my friends surrounding me, giving me support then I knew I could, I would.

All was a blur after that incident. Even Lily was quiet the whole day. What the hell had happened?

I didn't know for sure, but later when I was clam and warm, tucked in my bed I thought today was the first chapter of a long history between Jared and me, even if I wanted to be far from him. _Our history_, that made me smile.

Maybe his craziness was contagious after all.

**As if****  
****I'm gonna let you break my heart again****  
****As if I'm gonna let your love back in my life****  
****Not tonight, get a grip****  
****Baby as if**

**

* * *

What do you think? Did Kim reacted the way she should have? Have you ever been on a situation like this? Somebody trying to win their way back into your hearts? Leave some love! :D Hopefully next chapter will take much less time to be updated, but with exams and all... i don't make any promises. Stay tuned!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm so sooo sorry. I know it took me forever to update but RL and exams are killing me. LittleFrog don't feel depressed, I'm sure you did your best! I know it's kind of late but I hope this chapter cheers you up :D (so just you know I'm in the same boat as you, I don't know what to do with my chemistry degree.) Exams will we here in a month and I'm not sure if there will be an update. Anyway, enjoy this chapter. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in case I don't get here on time! Enjoy the holiday (: And thanks for reviewing and reading the last chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. **

**STUCK WITH EACH OTHER ****Chapter 7: Fate and its dirty games**

_**Before she said hi – Mario**_

There are people who say they do not believe in fate. It even seems silly to think there's someone who is a perfect match for you. Your soul mate, your significant other and other nick names I won't say because I'm at serious risk to die of cheesiness. I didn't believe in fate, destiny-whatever name you want to call it- even if my chances of finding my "soul mate" rose because of my wolfiness.

Needless to say, fate decided to teach me a lesson. I swear I could hear its delicate laugh while I tried to comprehend in how much trouble I was the day I went back to school. I had serious issues with my conflicted feelings, but I was happy Kim was the one made for me.

**I'm sick and tired of friends with benefits,****  
****There were too many goodbyes,****  
**

**~º~º~º~º~º~ Days ago, La Push forest ~º~º~º~º~º~**

**"You can. Just try." **Sam said for the- I'm sure- hundredth time since I morphed into a beast with anger managements.

**"I'm trying. I want to be a man with all I have in me!"** I was getting agitated again, and that wasn't helping.

**"A man…" **Paul snorted. _Fat stupid dog_.** "Don't get me started on…" **His thoughts were cut off by Sam who ordered him to change back and go to Emily's for some clothes. At least someone believed I was going to succeed.

**"Thanks." **He could see the appreciation in my thoughts. He nodded his big head and got up to stand in front of me, his eyes close to mine.

**"Now, I know for the past week I've saying this, but you got to try." **He insisted.

**"Why can't you just order me?"** I whined and flattened my ears.

**"You have to do it on your own. Not only because of you, there are plenty of people you need to take care of. How are you supposed to protect them if you might be the one who kills them?" **He was right again and I felt bad that I had asked him to order me. I realized that I had to stop being Jared the regular guy and be a protector. **"Yes, you have. Think of your mom, your family, your brother…they need you in control."**

A picture of Tanya passed through his mind, but he decided not to dwell on it. I thanked him for that.

"Picture yourself as a human, think of a happy place, someone you love. Search in your memories, look for something that makes you feel human." His powerful voice helped to soothe my nerves while I raked my brain looking for something that could tame the beast.

Suddenly a memory popped into my mind: my brother Daniel, learning how to ride his bike. He was 4 and wanted to ride his red bike all day, he still fell from it, so he spent all his time trying. If he could shower in it he would had done it. Mom though, didn't believe that kind of attachment was good for a boy his age and one morning- when I was comfortable sleeping- she ordered fourteen year old me to go with him to the park. To say I was angry was an understatement. Not that I didn't want to spent time with my little brother, but being 14 years I longed to be somewhere with my friends looking for some pretty girl to flirt with. So when I realized my Sunday was seriously ruined, I grabbed our smaller first kit aid and yelled for my bouncing brother to grab his coat and left in a rush.

I went mumbling and cursing under my breath how I didn't need to be told what to do with my free time while holding to the back of my brother's tiny bike. I felt bad for Daniel, he wasn't the one to blame, but my day was ruined, so I wasn't going to be all sunshine and smiles. We stopped so he could catch a break. We were lounging in the grass, eating sandwiches mom had prepared for us, when a shiny object half hidden not far away from us caught my attention.

"Danni, stay here." I told my brother and ran towards the object thinking it might be something valuable. I wasn't in real need for money, but me being me, became really excited at the idea.

I didn't saw the fallen log which was hidden beneath more leaves and tripped over it, scrapping my knees in the process. I groaned and cursed some more. That day wasn't going as planned at all. I could feel liquid slipping through my calf. Angrily I found out I was bleeding. Fortunately I was on my denim cutoffs and they didn't get ruined.

As I was trying not to choke on my own words of hatred for the whole world I saw Danni kneel in front of me with the first kit aid open by his side. With not so much but a flinch his tiny hands maneuvered to put –kind of awkwardly- a big pad which stopped the bleeding for ten seconds before it got drenched in blood. I looked at my little brother, cleaning his hands on the grass and then at the forgotten bike a few yards behind us.

That was the very first time he let go of his bike willingly.

I felt my body changing and growing hotter, like I was literally shrinking. My nostrils flared and I took a deep breath. When I opened my eyes I found out I was human again, standing on my two powerful legs, and naked. Butt naked.

**And I can't say I was so innocent,****  
****Cause I told my share of lies,**

Once I heard that every man has his own feminine moments and that's what was happening to me when I saw Sam standing in front of me, naked too, looking proud of me. That moment was kind of weird and I felt like hiding behind a bush, but luckily Sam put on some cut offs and passed me- what I thought it were- his basket balls shorts.

"Thanks." I mumbled. My voice was barely audible. Sam chuckled, picking on my sudden embarrassment.

"You might as well get over it," Paul laughed and appeared behind Sam. "We are strong wild men bonding in the wilderness."

"The only thing wild in the area is you." Sam smacked the back of my friend's head. Not that I was becoming a girl and getting all self conscious about my nakedness, but I wasn't totally comfortable either. My head was a mess.

"Now that you got how to phase back," Sam went on in his Alpha mode. I held back a pout. "You have to practice phasing at will, we can't have you wolfing out every time you get pissed."

I rolled my eyes, knowing he was right. "But I just became human again!" I whined nonetheless. "Can I have a break or something?"

"You have responsibilities," Sam rubbed his forehead looking tired. "It's a small sacrifice…" then he stopped abruptly. "First go take a shower."

Both Paul and Sam scrunched up his nose after sniffing me lightly.

"I guess it won't hurt you." Paul added to Sam's benefit.

"It's not my fault I couldn't fit into a fucking shower!" I didn't want to snap at them, but I guessed my control wasn't as good as I thought. "Sorry."

"No biggie." Luckily they didn't take any offense.

Paul led us out of the woods, even if we didn't need guidance. Two weeks lost in the thick green forest were enough for me to become familiar with the environment. Once my pack brothers were facing away from me, in a sneaky way I sniffed my armpit feeling self conscious- yet again- about my body smell. _Guess they were right, I do need a shower, _I thought flinching. At that moment Paul turned his head and stared right at me with a knowing smirk plastered on his face. I could see understanding in his eyes and wondered if we needed to be in wolf form to read each other thoughts.

After a couple of minutes- giving that we take long steps at a non human pace- we found ourselves in my backyard. Everything was the same the day I left, as if I hadn't disappeared for two weeks.

"We will wait here, when you're done get out quickly." Sam instructed not giving place to discussion.

"If you can grab something to eat," Paul added yell-whispering once I was opening the back door. "Ouch, Sam! We need to eat dammit!"

_I swear Sam is going to kill every neuron that's left on Paul's head._ I snickered and entered my own house like a creep. The house was eerily quiet, which I found weird. _Danni should have been running around, where was everyone? _I reached the kitchen and was tempted to stop and eat everything I could find on the fridge, but couldn't. My own body wouldn't respond. _Damn Alpha orders!_ I looked longingly around me, missing my old homely life. I never thought I would miss my mom's reprimands or Danni's and I bantering. Walking through the house I heard a ticking noise which increased in volume as I got closer to the living room. That's when I noticed the big clock on the wall. _1:45pm on Thursday. Everyone outside. _I relaxed at the thought of not having to explain myself to anyone, and not having to make up excuses as to why I was leaving right away.

After that day I was able to go wolf and back and paid visits to my family every once in a while, trying not to get too comfortable in case I got pissed. The only disadvantage about going back home was the need to lie to Danni about my whereabouts. Mom and dad were-sort of- members of the council and there was no need to lie or explain much.

So while Danni thought I was out helping people- which in a way I was- and doing chores around the reservation because that's why good teenage boys do, I was learning who to control my anger- Paul was totally useful on that department.

**But it seems like whenever I get close to her,****  
****Love would just be away,**

When I wasn't at home or in the forest, I found myself lounging long side Paul at Sam and his imprintee's house. _Yeah, they were THAT serious. _Sam wasn't much older than us, so when he told us how committed he felt to Emily, we fell on a deep discussion about how far the pull of an imprint can go. Scarily, we found out it was the strongest feeling a wolf can live with. Luck wasn't on our side, our Alpha though didn't feel the same way about the subject.

Sam's place was a comfy welcoming house, not much smaller than mine, a two story blue house with big windows and a beautiful garden full of flowers- Emily's doing. As hesitant as we were about imprinting, meeting a real imprintee was both relieving and revealing. Emily was such an adorable sweet girl with long dark hair- as was the pattern at the reservation- who had a sincere smile 24/7. You could tell she was pretty, but the three scars that marred the left side of her face were really noticeable much to her and Sam's dismay. He already told us what had happened- a terrible story- and every time one of us began loosing ourselves to our anger, we would remember how badly we can hurt regular people, or worse yet, someone dear.

Emily had some awesome skills when it came to cook and giving advices, that made us look at her like she was our second mom. Momma wolf- Paul's nickname for her- suited, so she got stuck with it.

"The doors and windows," she said with a giggle- such a girl trait. "Are always open for you, so anything you need don't doubt coming here right away." She told me with one of her familiar smiles the first day I met her.

"Now honey," Sam said, a playful tone in his voice. "Don't be too serious or we will have them here all day." Then kissed her hair.

She invited us to dinner and cooked some killer meatballs. She was thoughtful enough as to cook for half an army and I thanked her, because that was something mom wasn't able to do when I went on a surprise visit.

The relationship between them was so perfect it freaked me out the first days I spend there. Whatever Sam needed, Emily had it already and vice versa. Often I would catch Sam looking at her with pure adoration and his face would turn all soft and a stupid smile would appear, only to get wider when Emily looked at him through her eyelashes. Sometimes I felt like I was intruding, which I often was while they were giving each other longing glances across the room. At first I found it kind of cute, then it became downright gross.

_I don't see the day when I can go back to normal. I need to relate with more people. _I thought as the happy couple giggled and began smooching in the couch. Paul shot a handful of popcorn at me and rolled his eyes. He was as tired as me.

**But just when I thought my chances were over,****  
****I stared my future in the face.****  
**

**~º~º~º~º~ºSome days later, the La Push forest ~º~º~º~º~º~**

Finally we found a fresh trail of a bloodsucker in the reservation. It had been the same odor Sam found before I phased. Now that there were more of us we could take more ground and keep the disgusting dead popsicle out of our area, but even then the sparkling motherfucker would get its sneaky ass on our territory. The scent was too close to the street to go there in wolf form, so we had to phase back and roam the streets like normal people do. It felt natural until some kid from school spotted us and began telling his friends. And to top it off we found the trail right outside the Connweller's house. That made me edgy. _Kim has been near those things all the time? She had been jumpy at class, maybe she had seen something._ _Maybe she saw stupid Paul darting out of the woods_. _Guess I would never know. _

"**Kim?"** Asked Paul through his thoughts. "**That's not the chick who hates you?" **And a million of pictures of her hanging out with her friends and talking to me at Tia's party flooded through his mind to mine.

"**Yes…She is."** I told him warily.

"**Stop thinking about girls and concentrate about the trail, chase it."** Sam said sniffing the leaves on the forest floor.

"**Says the wolf that won't stop thinking about Emily."** Paul's thought were all grumpy, asking why Sam had more privileges.

"**He is the Alpha, duh."**

"**Don't duh me,"**

"**Duh…Duh," **

"**Shut up."** The gray wolf turned his big head at me and glared baring his teeth at me.

"**Make me."** I lolled my tongue making fun at him. I enjoyed making my brother angry. There always was a good fight, which was welcoming given that we were always bored to death.

"**It's on."** He pounced on me, trying to bite one of my ears, but missing them by inches. I laughed mentally at him and it only fueled his anger.

We quarreled for a few minutes till Sam's voice rang through our ears. **"Stop you two!"** My body felt like it was made of stone, I was unable to move it. **"Follow the trail RIGHT NOW and DO NOT cross paths." **

That being said we parted ways and found the trail lost in the Canadian border. Feeling hopeless we made our way back to La Push in a competition to see who was the fastest. Sam had lifted his previous order, so the race was full of dirty game. I would have won if not for Paul biting my paw, which gave Sam the time to get ahead of us and win.

After hearing our pathetic whines and pleas for a normal teenage life, Sam, such in a graceful way conceded us our wishes saying we could go back to normal. Then remembered we should get back to school in two days. I was some super dog, with incredible muscles with the obligation of protecting a whole town, and even then I had to go to school. Nice.

Seeing there was no place for discussion- as always while talking to Sam- each of us went home to rest in a much needed clean soft bed.

"My baby is home for good!" My mom, Lynn Thail, said giving me one of her motherly hugs. Tears sprung in her eyes and kissed me on the cheeks. "I have missed you, my baby."

I was getting kind of embarrassed of the fact that mom was addressing to me as her baby, when I was almost three times bigger than her.

"Mom, stop." I told her while depositing her on the kitchen floor. "You are leaving all your lipstick in me."

"Oh come one, don't get silly-teen with me." She dismissed me and run to the living room. There I heard: "Micky!" That was the nickname for my father. "Jarry is home!"

"God mom, stop calling me that!" I yelled from the kitchen. I tried to lift my head and hit it with the top of the fridge. Needless to say there was an ugly indentation. I decided not to tell anyone. I was rummaging through the contents of the fridge when a cold hand clapped my back.

"Hey son," My dad said solemnly. "Glad to have you back." He smiled.

"I'm glad to be back."

"Now stop violating the freezer, would you?" Dad always the funny one. I rolled my eyes and took some leftovers ignoring my father's request.

"Jared!" Danni hugged my stomach. "You aren't leaving again, are you?" He asked me with big brown hopeful eyes.

"No buddy," I said ruffling his hair. It was short and spiky like mine. "What happened to your hair?"

"He wanted to be like his brother, and wanted to cut it too." Mom told me getting a glass of milk for my little brother. "There you go baby, now go play upstairs, we have to talk to your bother okay?"

"Kay…" Danni obliged. He made his way out of the kitchen but stopped at the door, then turned to look at mom. "Are you going to yell at him?" I could tell he didn't want our parents to scold me. _I know there would be always someone on my side. _

"Of course not," Dad assured him. "But we have to talk about grownups things, sport." Danni frowned but left anyway.

_I would talk to him later_, I thought.

"That kid has you idolized, don't disappoint him." I looked at dad surprised. "Don't look at me that way, Danni has always wanted to be like you." Mom gave me a smile and nodded her head.

**I made a lot of broken promises,****  
****I had no respect for words,**

"Now now, tell us everything about becoming a protector!" Mom said excitedly. "When Billy Black came to our house and told us what was happening to you we freaked out, I thought he was making fun of us." Then she laughed, probably remembering her –sure to be- exaggerated reaction.

"We…well," I didn't know how to tell her everything that I felt, so I began from the beginning. I did not tell them what triggered my phasing, but hinted that some confrontation at school was behind it.

Some hours later I went to talk to Danni and told him I was not in trouble, but thanked him for backing me up. I told him about things I had being doing- adulterating some facts- and asked him how he had been these past three weeks. He told me a kid from a grade or two higher- Jordan Connweller- had told him how much of a scum bag I was for what I did to his sister. Such a good brother he is. Anyway, they didn't get into a fight because there was a teacher to call on Jordan's attitude.

"That's in the past," I told Danni. "But thanks for sticking up for me, again."

That night, Danni fell asleep with me on the couch and I didn't have the heart to leave him, so I brought him with me to my bedroom. The best sleep I had had in weeks.

Patrolling wasn't as hard as before, now that I had some of my life back. But that definitely changed the day I went back to school. Fate had already played its cards.

**~º~º~º~º~º~ºWednesday, La Push High School~º~º~º~º~º~ **

_This is going to be hell,_ I thought.

As I made my way through the hallway I couldn't help but avoid every girl's eyes. One, because I was tired and kind of scandalized about the rumors about my disappearance, I didn't want to see them judging me. And two, I was shitting my pants thinking about the chance that I might imprint. Paul didn't have that problem as I found him ogling every single female around us, he wasn't looking at their eyes to be exact.

"Look at them," some girl whispered to her friend. "They are way hotter than before and that, my friend, is saying something." I held back a laugh, but could not help a smile to form on my face.

"It's impossible to grow that much without drugs." Other girl said. I rolled my eyes at that. There were three different theories about what kind of drug I was taking.

"They are starting to piss me of bro." Paul said loud enough for only me to hear.

"Tell me about that."

**And I thought I got all that I'm against,****  
****Until I ran into her,**

Thanks –or not-to my enhanced hearing I could hear all the teenagers gossiping. There were tons of girls squealing which made it impossible to concentrate. We stood by our lockers a few minutes, not knowing what to do. I looked impatiently at my cell, praying for the ring to bell. When it didn't, I glared at the school clock, which was at the main door, time didn't go faster though.

I had my first class with Tom, and I wasn't too keen on the idea. Sam said we could have friends and all the jazz, but we couldn't be as close as before and we had to quit any sport we were matriculated in. I got there almost the last one and every single soul stared at me. Tom looked at me suspiciously and greeted me not too enthusiastically.

The first hour was hell, and there were three more to go.

That morning was pretty uneventful till art class, where my control was severely tested. I would like to say I got it under control, but I slipped.

I did my best to ignore everyone- at least for the time being- until I felt comfortable enough as to not get pissed at my friends pestering. I was totally out of my element surrounded by "art", for what I was even more edgy. Tuning out the teacher incessant rambling I drifted to my own world where I could be in wolf form wherever I wanted. But even in my thoughts there was a tapping noise, which with my hearing made my wolf go crazy. I seriously doubted between killing the offensive nobody who dared to annoy me or ask him or her to stop it and shove the brush up their ass. I did none of that. I just grabbed the brush- surprisingly on the fly. Werewolf remember?- and hold onto it till my companion took it from my hand and rested it on the table. To top it off there was an amazing smell that was making the wolf within me stir. I was angrier than I should have been, so I avoided verbal communication. The more the better.

The bell rang and I fled to the cafeteria, letting go some of the frustration I had been feeling all day mumbling the whole way there. The cafeteria was packed when I arrived, but there was no Paul in sight.

I wasn't lucky, because before I was able to find Paul to tell him I was leaving for the day Tanya- my ex, I mean- my currently girlfriend threw herself at me. Literally.

I caught her without stumbling backwards and suddenly was attacked with kisses all over my face.

"Hey," I said between kisses. "Guess you missed me."

**She whispers to me and it pulls me closer,****  
****Now I can't stay away,**

"Yes you incredibly hot boy!" I put her on the ground and then she hit me with her notebook. I only noticed because I was looking at her, otherwise I wouldn't have felt anything.

I blinked twice and stared at her confused.

"You disappeared for THREE WEEKS without explanation!" Sweet Tanya was nowhere to be seen. "What's going on with you?"

"Not today," I begged. I was not near phasing, but I was going to flee either way if she kept that up. I pouted and gave her my best puppy dog eyes. No pun intended.

She sighed and looked at me like she was giving in, but she held up a finger as if asking for one condition. "Later you tell me everything." I nodded knowing I wasn't going to tell her half the truth of what happened, but she was satisfied. Then she threw herself at me, figuratively.

I couldn't remember when was the last time I felt the touch of a woman who wasn't motherly involved with me. She put her arms around my neck and brought her face up to mine kissing me fiercely. I did miss my sex life. I was still seventeen, werewolf or not. It seems I was needier than I thought, because after her ministrations I couldn't wait for the end of the day to be alone. She giggled knowing what I wanted, looked behind me where our friends were waiting- looking rather mad- and raised her eyebrows at me. I knew that look too well. _Why don't we get lost RIGHT NOW? _

It took me a moment to realize that I had looked at her in the eyes, and I didn't feel different. _Thank God, I hadn't imprinted on her_. Being committed to Tanya forever and ever wasn't something I was looking forward too.

I grabbed her hand led her out of the cafeteria. Or I would have done that if someone hadn't knocked Tanya with the door.

"Ow!"

"Um… I'm sorry I didn't know you were," There was somebody getting between what I wanted and me, again. I couldn't help the growl that emerged from my chest and I finally snapped.

I wanted to make my demand really frightening so I looked at the girl in front of me.

**And now I feel like all my pain is over,****  
****I stared my future in the face.**

"Will you move out of my…" And then, BAM. I was a goner. I felt myself losing my footing, like I was out of my body, but still looking at that pretty girl's eyes. I didn't understand why, but my heart began beating erratically making me feel alive for the very first time. Not even when I became a wolf I felt that powerful. The whole world was before me to conquer, and I could. The girl in front of me was my whole world, even if she didn't know it yet or hadn't said anything. Her green eyes were the most beautiful color I have ever seen, her face was perfect. Maybe she wasn't a Victoria's Secret model, but she was it for me. I heard people talking to me far away, and after focusing better they made me get down from my high.

"Huh?" I was confused as hell and that sweet intoxicating smell was all over the place. I felt like I wanted to jump from joy and mourn the bachelor life I would never have. I had imprinted. FUCK. On Kim Connweller. DOUBLE FUCK.

"Kim, don't listen to her." Angela said.

"Kim…" I repeated. I needed to know if this was for real. I needed answers but I needed her first. Having her was going to be hard as fuck. _I will do it. _I smiled at myself. Kim was my imprint! Why was I so happy? I needed to make things right with her, and it needed to be done ASAP. "I…umm…do you," I stammered like the idiot I am. I was so nervous. I couldn't mess it up this time. It was my soul mate here we were talking about.

She was too far for my liking. What if she tripped and died? NO. I needed to touch her, to know she was fine. Maybe she got hurt with the door. I took a step forward and felt two arms wrapped around me trying- I say trying, werewolf remember?- to keep me in place.

Then it clicked. I was leaving with Tanya not Kim…

_Yeah, Tanya your actual girlfriend. Cute girl with a gift for French kissing._

SHE was all over me not Kim, and that felt wrong. I felt like she burned me. I couldn't get Tanya far from me fast enough. How was I going to explain? I couldn't mess it up again. _Kim would never forgive me. _

I pushed Tanya aside with too much force. It wasn't right by her books though.

"Jared!" She shrieked. "What's wrong with you?"

I grabbed both hands of Kim that were soft and petite- where was all this mushy shit coming from?- and tried to make her believe me: "It's not what you think,"

**I looked an angel in the eye,****  
****And since then I've been paralyzed,****  
**

"WHAT?" Kim said so loud I think the whole cafeteria turned to look at us, but I couldn't care less. She obviously didn't believe me because she looked like she wanted to hit me with a baseball bat.

Even if she was scandalized by my new attitude I could tell she reacted well to my touch. That made me chest swell with pride. It was short lived though. Suddenly she snatched her hands from me. It was worse than get slapped. "Let go of me. What are you doing?"

"You ridiculous over grown monkey, stay away from her, you've done enough damage as it is!" Her friend Lily, I think, ordered me. I didn't even call her on her numerous insults.

Wasn't it obvious? I wanted to be with Kim. I wanted to talk to her. That would have to do, for now. So I said that.

"Why would I stay away? I want to be with her." I wasn't measuring my words. My brain flitter was dead gone, but what I was saying wasn't something to feel ashamed of.

"What?" A chorus of woman said. Kim found it funny- me too- but I was too immersed on her laugh, it was humorless but it was beautiful nonetheless. Her friends turned their heads, glaring at her for laughing at a situation as delicate as this one. I used my chance to get closer to her and avoid her friends that stood before her like a wall.

"Kim could we," I tried to reason with MY imprint in front of everyone, but her friends didn't let me.

"No you can't," Said other one. "Why don't you leave with Tanya, you were pretty busy before we arrived." I glared at her for pointing the obvious. _Kim doesn't need to be reminded of that!_

"That's not," I began to correct her in a futile intent to show her wrong before Kim's eyes.

**Something told me she'd be mine,****  
****And I knew it before she said hi****  
**

"Don't even go there buddy." Lily, who I thought might have some Leah genes, waved a hand in front of my face. I wasn't going to hit them, but was tempted to carry every single friend Kim had and leave them outside school property so I could talk to my Kim properly. "Leave now! You don't get to talk to her, ever."

"Kim, please," I begged one more time. She did not know what to do with her friends butting in all the time. "Let her talk!" I snapped for the first time at the group of crazy women in front of me.

"We don't have anything to talk about, I don't know about you, but I think '_I_ _need to get out of here'." _Kim replied in an icy tone. That made my blood ran cold. Where had I heard that before?

She was the one tapping with the brush. And I rudely snatched it from her.

_Why God hates me so much? Why won't you stop me from fucking up at least ONE freaking time?_

I felt cold hands pulling me outside the cafeteria, a nasal voice asking me to go out. I began losing control, for the second time, but this time it was worse. I was shaking again. I could have hurt someone, or worse yet, Kim. That made me even angrier and the nasal voice wasn't shutting up. "Don't tell me what to do." I demanded to that voice. I put my hands on my temples, trying not to growl and take a bite of everyone around me. _For Kim's sake._

"Don't yell at her jackass!" I couldn't make out who was telling me what.

"Jared, THIS is too much, when you regain the little sense you had last month, come find me."

More voices. I just hoped Kim wasn't the one saying that she was leaving. Somehow-between all the shaking and quarreling inside my head- I knew that wasn't her voice.

"Man relax, she is just a pain in the ass." I heard another familiar voice address to me. This time tough it relaxed me. Warm hands led me away from Kim, and for the millionth time in the day I tried to break free. This time it wasn't as easy, another werewolf was blocking my way. If I didn't want to fight, I had to reason with him.

"I need to talk to her dude," I said pulling away from Paul. "I can't leave." There was no way I was leaving things this way.

"You're not in control, Sam is gonna beat your ass," My pack brother threatened me.

"I don't care!" I growled and got away. I quickly caught up with my angel. "Kim, about before… I didn't want to… I'm sorry." I did not know what to say. I never meant it for her. She couldn't understand what was happening to me unless I told her the truth about me and me being a werewolf, and that wasn't happening anytime soon.

"Really?" There was again that icy voice that chilled me to the bone. Me, a werewolf that I runs at 108 degrees. "I'm not surprised, after all this is not the first time you didn't mean to be harsh with me…"

_How could I have been such a jerk to her? What have I done?_

**My gift from god,****  
****Fallen star from the sky,****  
****Fell in love the first look at her eyes,****  
**

I began shaking, I knew I was blurring, but I was glued to the spot. She hated me, and it was my entire fault. "Jared we go now." Paul used his beta voice to order me to leave. I wouldn't have moved any other way.

After we reached the tree line I exploded into a ball of fury, taking down trees, rocks and everything that was on my way. Fortunately Sam and Paul left me alone with my thoughts and didn't pester me asking questions about what happened. Even if Kim hated me I followed her car from the dark, keeping her safe. I heard her going upstairs and saw her beautiful face in between pink curtains with ice creams all over them. Once she was safe, I left feeling angrier with myself. Before I could go back to the normal guy- as normal as I could with a depressed soul and a bounded ego- I was, disaster struck.

**"Jared there's the same stench again,"** Sam told me alarmed. **"The one it's been getting away from us this past week."**

Once I reached the area they were in, I sniffed through some leaves and trees and indeed noticed the dead roses and sugary smell. I followed the smell, an anxious feeling never leaving my chest. I was running like there was no tomorrow to the place where it emanated, my brothers by my side. What I found made my heart stop.

The smell was stronger inside a house. Curtains with little ice creams across the pink fabric in the second floor and the most incredible smell, confirming my worst fear: the Connweller's house.

"A beautiful girl indeed," A disgusting voice said. We were at Kim's backyard dead on our tracks. "Such a waste." The vampire was talking to us, knowing about our werewolf hearing.

**"It's talking about Kim!" **A pained sound escaped my snout. I was scrapping the grass beneath my paws. **"We need to do something."** I whined.

**"Phase back, do not try to take it alone, get it out of the house." **Sam ordered getting anxious at the thought of a dead imprintee. That only made me even more panicky.

Then the most horrible thing happened. I smelled blood.

My world came crashing down.

**Something told me she'd be mine,****  
****And I knew it before she said hi.**

**

* * *

**

**DUN DUN DUN! Poor Jared, what will happen to Kim now? Damn nomad leeches! What do you think about Danni? He is so cute!**


	8. Chapter 8

**How was Christmas break? I hope everyone had a good time and had time to relax. As I already knew would happen, my exams hadn't gone well- as in at all- resulting on me leaving the degree. I know awful... I feel awful too but life goes on. I hope this chapter cheers you all up as it had cheered me up writing it! (: Jared POV again, hope you like it! Also I'm in need of a beta as you can see... *blushes* so if anyone is interested please send me a message. Sorry for the delay, I should be hanged! lol **

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, read, added to favs and alerts! You make my day! :D Special thanks to littlefrog she is so awesome. I was kind of missing you with the last chapter! Lol Okay I stop ranting now... On with the show! ^^**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**STUCK WITH EACH OTHER ****Chapter 8: More than words**

_**In my head – Jason Derulo**_

"You will never disobey again when I give you a command."

It wasn't an Alpha order, given that Sam did not believe on having us on a short leash, but the anger in his voice left little room for discussions. I lowered my head and nodded feeling somehow embarrassed I had to be lectured again.

"I understand the imperative need to protect your imprint, but your little outburst out there could have not just blown up our cover but endangered worse her life!"

**Every body's looking for love.**

**Ain't that the reason you're at this club.**

Paul sat by my side and nudged me with his elbow. I looked at him and he gave me a sheepish smile. He did not understand at all what the deal was with imprinting yet, but he followed me when I freaked out at the Conweller's backyard, I was grateful for that.

"That goes for you too Hill." Sam pointed a finger at him raising an eyebrow daring him to say something back. My wolf buddy scowled at him but remained silent. With that our boss went on. "We are a little pack, we have to be organized. This time there only was one bloodsucker, but what if we find ourselves being outnumbered? Our connection as a group is what makes us strong."

He did have a point. Not that he didn't before, but if we couldn't control ourselves we were condemned to fuck up in the near future. I had tried to keep my cool, I had been practicing as to not to freak out when the time came, but with Kim added in the mix I wasn't able to think straight.

What Kim doesn't know, and will never know- God knows she would be dead scared- is that her older sister had been really close to lose her life. Fortunately, my "outburst" made the leech rethink his next move and we were able to get him out of Kim's.

"Now, get your butts to the woods." Sam said playfully. His dark mood was improving with each passing minute. "We have to learn from our mistakes."

I thought he was being his wise self, but once we phased we literally learned from them.

**"Can you see the change on Jared's face?"** Sam thought.

**"This whole replay thing is awesome! Look,"** then Paul proceeded to think and rethink about me and my stupid faces. His gray large wolf let out a guffaw. I didn't know we could do that.

**"Stop thinking about me, it makes you look gay."** I retorted back. My thoughts got to Paul because his mind turned to its usual self. Totally blank.

I heard a growl being followed by another way more scary.

**"We are supposed to be working on getting better as wolves, I'm not here to baby sit you."** The black wolf bared his teeth at us.

**"Sorry."** Paul and I thought at the same time. We sat on our haunches and perked our ears as if were paying attention in class. My tongue lolled out while Paul wiggled his tail giving the impression that we were good doggies. Probably we were forcing it a little but we didn't like Sam being mad at us.

**"As I was SAYING," **Sam went on – this time exasperated. **"That moment was when we lost you and you went on your own. That should not happen again."**

**"Okay,"** I agreed.

Shutting out every noise and smell I concentrated on last night events while Sam pointed out our mistakes- not just the obvious ones- and I showed my point of view of what had happened at Kim's room.

*FLASHBACK*

As soon as I smelled blood I didn't even stop to make sure it was outside Kim's house. I phased back to human and left my shorts on the floor. I heard a growl behind me: it was Sam trying to get me to stop, but I was beyond myself with worry. Climbing trough her window with two big hops I flung myself inside Kim's bedroom. Her perfect scented aroma was thickly tainted with the leech stench. I found it frozen on the spot, inhaling deeply moving its head frantically looking for the source of the smell that was driving him crazy.

"Now I'm going to bleed to death." I heard someone yell-whisper downstairs.

Kim seemed no longer of his interest as he took in my appearance, and smirked thinking he was going to get a snack and come back for my imprint later. Soon enough his grin faded when Paul showed up inside the little girlie room growling menacingly but not loud enough to wake Kim. I moved to the left, blocking his getaway through the door. The dead corpse looked daringly thinking we couldn't take him, but I could see at least his patience running thin.

Paul was trembling so much I was scared he was going to go wolf having Kim near, but even I couldn't control myself to stay put any longer. The bloodsucker reached over to Kim and I could hear my joints cracking trying to free the wolf within.

**You ain't gonna find a dance with him.**

**Got a better solution for you girl.**

"Get out," I told Paul low enough for him to hear. I knew the leech could hear too, but I couldn't risk waking Kim up.

"What?"

"Get out, he is not afraid of us, he might hurt her." I wanted to lounge at it and bite its head off but the quiet angel only inches away from that thing made me stop.

Once Paul was out I turned to the disgusting vampire and addressed at him with hatred.

"Take your chance and leave." I was sure my voice was desperate. "You have a chance to stay…alive." It was difficult to utter such a word to a dead corpse but I managed.

I heard more growling and it frowned getting confused with the ruckus going on outside. I wasn't totally sure how long he had been a bloodsucker but the way he moved- not as gracefully as I was told they did- made me think he was kind of unprepared. I wanted to use that to my advantage.

I could tell it was getting suspicious as to why two naked teenagers were starring him down, and I remembered they were not supposed to know about the wolves. Something seemed to click in its head and laughed hauntingly allowing itself a moment of clarity. _Shit, it couldn't have guessed, could it?_

"What are you?" It asked getting far from the bed. "You know," it approached the window sill and before leaving it turned its stare at me. "We are stronger."

Knowing it could hear me I replied. "But we are faster."

Needless to say, we caught the male vampire, and tore it into pieces. It was such a rush to catch him and jump at it letting our instinct take control. It was kind of nasty the metallic flavor the body parts left in my mouth after chopping them off, it didn't make us go any slower though. Before Sam and Paul lit a fire I was out running back to Kim. I was sure there was no more danger- Sam wouldn't have let me leave her- but I needed to see her safe and sound. Unfortunately that wasn't going to happen, given that our boss was freaking mad at me.

**"STAY WHERE YOU ARE."**

My muscles froze and even if I was dying to run until I reached Kim's side I found it impossible to move.

**"Not now,"** I whimpered sorrowfully. I knew I had messed up and that it could have gone all wrong but I wouldn't have done anything different if given the chance.

**"I know. She is fine."** He pictured my imprint in his mind sleeping in an awkward angle, but snoring lightly nonetheless. **"Paul checked in on her when you took off running behind the vampire."**

I flattened my ears and stopped trying to move.

**"I'm-"**

**"What you did out there was extremely inappropriate!"** My alpha growled before I had the time to apologize. **"This is not a video game. You don't have extra life. That could have gone extremely wrong!"** His wolf was pacing up and down in the clearing we found ourselves into. Paul was replaying what he had done after I told him to get out of Kim's bedroom.

Paul went wolf when he reached the floor and Sam phased back and went to check inside the house- without being seen- trying to protect the sad human being bleeding downstairs. He had been hearing the conversation I was having and when Emma- the one who had sliced her hand with a broken glass- somehow heard the turmoil upstairs Sam diverted her attention on him. I hadn't thought about the possibility of Emma heading upstairs with her hand bleeding. It could have been her last night walk.

**"Yes, you did not think. At all."**

I felt bad jeopardizing him as our alpha and boss, and I knew I deserved the scolding he was giving me- even a good wiping- but that did not lessen the feeling of being misunderstood. It was Kim's life what was on the stake!

**"What would have YOU done if it had been Emily?"** I growled a bit myself trying to emphasize my annoyance.

Sam's rant stopped and focused on Emily's face while picturing her on my imprint's situation. We all could hear his heart miss a beat and his wolf grow overprotective and angry. I didn't want to say I told you so, but I thought it, so might as well had said it.

**"I don't know what I would have done."** He said, his voice gentle. **"But you know I wouldn't have let it hurt your girlfr- your, huh, Kim."** My Kim. That was nice.

**"I know,"** I replied. I hadn't intended to doubt Sam's intentions when it came down to our safety. I apologized in case I did. "I don't wish it on you." I added truthfully.

**"Okaaaaaay," **Paul interrupted us. I was kind of missing his stupid comments. **"This is getting way too emotional for me."** He said stretching like the dog he was. **"Let's go eat something."**

I rolled my eyes and sighed. _Only he would think about food on times like this. _

**"Let's go to Emily's,"** Sam said already on his way.

**"Can I…?"** I tried to persuade my boss to let me go see "my Kim" as he had addressed to her before.

**"Still you fucked up tonight, so no." **No such luck. **"Plus, tomorrow morning she will be at school."**

**"You sure?"** I asked panicking. Really now, I hated to sound like a bitch, whining all the time_. Is this what imprinting had done to me?_

Both of my "friends" rolled their wolves' eyes and nodded lightly their big hairy heads. Regretfully I began to walk in the opposite direction I wanted to follow. After Sam handed me a pair of cutoffs we ate in silence, every one of us thinking about what we could have lost over my stupidity- plus Emily was long asleep and we couldn't wake her up- and went to bed aka the couch for four more hours.

*END FLASHBACK*

I was wiggling my tail out of pure anxiety as there were just a couple of minutes left till the bell in school rang. _Maybe she was there already. Of course she was, Kim is so responsible. _

**"God, phase back, I feel like I have a childish crush on her and I don't even like her!"** Paul growled.

I did as I was told, the sooner I was Jared the regular guy the sooner I could be near her. _That did sound stalkerish. _

We all put on our clothes and waved Sam goodbye while we made our way to our classes through the woods. Talk about discretion.

"So… In love?" Paul made a face. I did not know what he was implying until I thought who I was dying to see.

**Some dudes know all the right things to say.**

**When it comes down to it, it's just a game.**

"Um…"I thought deeply. Sure I was supposed to love her, right? Sam did love Emily, very much, but I hadn't even had a proper conversation with Kim, and even if I had been attracted to her all this time I wouldn't call it love. For god's sake I didn't know what love was! "No?" I furrowed my eyebrows in concentration.

"You're asking me?" He replied smiling. "Your thoughts had been a mess this days, I got a headache just trying to understand what you are going through."

"Aw, you worry for me," I chuckled. "How cute."

"Har har, fucker." He grew serious. "It's just… you want to be with her?"

"Yes." I said without thinking. My eyes grew big and Paul slapped me in the back.

"You are whipped already."

"No, I'm not." I argued. "I guess…this is normal, I'm seventeen. I want to be with a lot of girls." _Liar._

"You do?" My friend asked surprised. "I would like to see you trying." I gulped loudly at the daring tone in his voice. If I had to prove him wrong I was in for loads of shit.

**~º~º~º~º Later, before lunch break ~º~º~º~**

"I've seen your glazed stare long enough," Paul said suddenly while walking to the cafeteria. God knew I was starving to death.

I whined childishly. Sure he knew how to push my buttons. That was Paul's specialty. I wanted to push his stupid face against a locker- or a wall, the harder the better- but refrained myself since Sam forbade us to act too super human before non-super people. He turned to me and stopped walking, a silly grin had taken up place on his face.

"I gotta be your best man, it's just fair."

You will think me being imprinted I will love to get married the next morning and have tons of kids. I didn't.

My blood ran cold at the very thought of getting married. _Engaged, to a girl a barely know?_ And what freaked me out the most was the warm feeling I got when I thought about the smile on her face saying "I do." _What had I gotten myself into?_

"Man, I was kidding, breathe you're purple."

I hadn't chosen to become a werewolf super hot- warm wise- protector. I hadn't chosen Kim to be my soul mate, but deep inside of me I knew she was good for me. What if I had imprinted in some clingy bimbo or on a cruel girl? I had gotten lucky to have her in my life occupying such important role.

She was the one with the problem. Not every day you get stalked by the very guy who promised to never like you back. Fuck fate.

"Jared!"

"Huh?" A loud voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"You were going to pass out," Paul laughed while patting my back. "I'm not going to CPR you."

I laughed, really laughed for the first time, not at my friend's comment but at the realization I had come to. I had to make Kimberly Conweller fall in love with me- if she wasn't already.

"You idiot almost made me die of a coronary at the mention of marriage," I began walking to my desired destination.

"I was joking," he excused himself.

"But I got to thank you, because finally I've come to terms with mine and Kim's relationship." If I could call whatever we had a relationship. I was optimist.

"By the goofy grin you're wearing I can guess." Guffawing we waited with our empty trays of food, staring intently at the food mere inches from us like salivating dogs. No pun intended.

* * *

"Why is she not here?" I asked concerned. More than twenty minutes had gone by and Kim hadn't showed up. Was she okay? I did not care if Paul made fun of me anymore, I needed Kim and I needed her right then.

"Maybe she is not in school." Watching as my partner inhaled his food I wished I could be as careless and just live it up, but I had to SEE KIM! "The more you think about it the worse."

"As if I could wrap my mind about the idea of not thinking about her." I mumbled grumpily.

Now don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't like to think about my imprint, on the contrary, lately my imagination had been getting the better of me both in bad and good ways. Very good ways. But I had never been the dramatic kind of guy, and I wasn't going to start then. I wasn't a pussy and I knew I couldn't push certain limits between Kim and I –let's say in the near fourteen years- so I wasn't going to beg. Or I hoped I didn't get to the point of needing begging.

Taking one big bite of my- I wasn't sure what had I chosen to become my meal- I mulled over the different approaches to get Kim to like me. Again.

**Instead of talking let me demonstrate.**

**Get down to business lets skip foreplay**

"If you chew on that chicken one more time I'm going to make you swallow it whole."

I looked at my plate- by Paul's comment it was chicken- and then at my friend rolling my eyes and finally gulping down my food.

Suddenly, the door of the cafeteria opened letting in the best scent on earth. I perked my ears- or I would have done that if I had been a wolf- and fixated my gaze on her. She was everything I could ask for. She was no top model, but who needed to be with that smile of hers? I found myself smiling stupidly and following her figure wherever she moved. Her friends were asking her questions about something I wasn't interested to hear, but once Kim decided to answer her voice was the only noise ringing through my ears.

"I don't know what she was doing," she made a gesture with her hands as if saying she really did not know what they were talking about.

"That makes her look cuter."

_I just said cuter. Please kill me._

Gratefully Paul wasn't paying me attention anymore as he was oddly obsessed with his tray and the last of the four bags of chips he had bought. Miraculously I wasn't interested in food anymore. _When is the proper time to get close to her? With her friends always by her side it is going to be impossible, she was never alone._ That spoke volumes of her. She was always surrounded by people, why wouldn't she be?

"Em has this nasty cut in her hand and won't even let us see it,"

"Kim is Emma, she wouldn't let us even touch her arm when she had that cast on her arm." Fortunately Kim nor her sister found out what had happened. They just thought they had been dreaming or imagining thins.

"I know," Kim huffed. She was so cute when she pouted. I imagined those full lips puckering…trying to kiss me. _Me or any inch of my body…_

"Hey," I felt a hard hand smacking the back of my head. "None of that funny business."

Turning my head to the left, annoyed as hell with the inopportune asshole that had broken the sure to be amazing fantasy about Kim I growled under my breath. Paul was looking at me with a disgusted frown at finding me getting…huh…aroused.

"The day you imprint, you are going to beg me for mercy." I sentenced in a very serious threatening voice.

"God won't permit it." Quirking an eyebrow he resumed eating his food.

"You right. Poor girl." Crossing my arms I stared from across the room at the beauty making her way towards me- not me, her table but a guy can dream right?

She was fine, smiling and laughing although light purple circles were under her eyes. Everything I wanted for her, but none of that was thanks to me – but the purples marks- and that wasn't right by me. I watched as her head turned from left to right to the way her lips moved, to her swan like neck to the little cleavage she was letting see with her top.

I would like to remain all fluffy and stuff, talking about the feelings she evoked on me just with her mere presence, but I'm a boy with a hot imprint and that resulted on one thing. I stared more than I should at her curves. My fantasies did no justice to her. And I'm sure her clothed body did none to her real self. Real naked self.

"Dammit Jared!" Someone lost his patience kicking me under the table. Unfortunately what Paul hit wasn't my leg but the table and sent the little bit of food that remained untouchable – mysteriously more than a half of my tray was empty- to the floor.

People turned to stare at us, stopping what they were doing, many of them with a rather angry face at us. Call it fate, call it timing I call it bad luck because as the commotion began one of Kim's friends was about to walk through all the mess but stopped right in front of the amount of food in the floor.

If I had been a smooth talker- as I liked myself to think I was- I would have taken the chance to start chitchatting with Kim, but as the day went on I turned out to be a creeper with a babbling problem.

We stood there staring at each other- me dumbly- till Kim addressed to me.

"Something bothering you?" Wow she was hardcore Kim today. Sexy.

**In my head, I see you all over me.**

**In my head, you fulfill my fantasy.**

**You'll be screaming more.**

I forced myself out of my status of stupefaction and smirked at her boldness. With a winning smile I told her: "Not now that you are here." And winked at her. It wasn't far from the truth, but she didn't need to know that yet.

My flirting seemed to have the opposite effect on her, since she looked like she wanted to flip me the finger but couldn't because she was holding her tray. While her friends glared and gaped at me Kim looked beat red with rage. I had not intended to make my imprint angry with me, so I quickly backtracked.

"I mean, I know I freaked you out yesterday…" I began awkwardly. God this girl turned me into such a blabbering idiot. "Everything cool now."

"Sure you came down from your high already." Kim sentenced. I felt like I had been slapped three ways. She couldn't believe I was doing drugs. _Not her!_

"I never-"

"Man, stop degrading yourself." Paul stood up and gathered the papers and plates from the floor. "There's plenty of space for you all to go." He added rudely.

All four including an angry hot as hell Kim turned away and made their way to one of the farthest tables on the cafeteria. I shook my head at Paul. His rude ways weren't going to win me my imprint. Not that he was the one who needed to win her over, but still.

"You should thank me instead of that stupid shaking."

"I need to make amends with her," I whispered to him trying not to peek at Kim too obviously. I failed. She was nearly seething when our stares connected, but after seeing the blush that crept up her face –the good one this time- my hopes renewed. I haven't lost her_. _

* * *

It had been more than a week since I imprinted on Kim, and I hadn't made any progress with her. She slipped through my fingers each time I cornered her. Her friends were always there to face me in case she wanted nothing to do with me- which was often- and me having other duties did not left spare time for me to follow Kim around outside school. I had lost count of how many times I had tried to get her to see me as the new Jared. The first time had gone horribly wrong.

*FLASHBACK*

"Kim!" I said as I found her playing with a volley ball at PE. She turned around and ignored me while swatting the ball. "Please, why don't we…talk?"

"Jared we don't have anything to talk about."

"Maybe we do, let's grab a coffee after class." I asked her getting the ball from her hands so she had to look directly at me.

**Just leave with me now. Say the word and well go.**

**I'll be your teacher. I'll show you the ropes.**

Kim blushed and tucked a strand of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail as I watched her like a hawk. She went to reply when a ball hit me on the head. It didn't hurt me, but Kim saw it and it broke our bubble. I turned around to see Leah made her way toward us. She has been the one to throw the ball at me.

"You have no shame Thail."

"Leah this it not-"

"You asking for a date after everything you put her through?" She crossed her arms and looked directly at Kim who nodded her head.

"He did, but don't worry I wasn't going to accept." Kim sentenced and left me there hanging, with Leah starring me down.

"At least she knows what's good for her." She spat before leaving.

*END FLASHBACK*

The other chances I've got weren't different from the first one, and when it wasn't Leah keeping her from me Lily and Angela were simply throwing me off with murderous glances. I wanted to apologize goddammit! I had been following her all weekend while on werewolf duty, watching from a safe distance. Each laugh, joke or smile made me want her more and so I was more eager to talk to her. Even teachers were against me. Once I tried to talk quietly to Kim, which resulted on detention for both of us. She hated me more after that.

So she was already in class and I was ditching- again- after another day of futile stalking.

"If you ever want to make up you have to talk to her ALONE." Paul said wisely.

"You think Sherlock?" I was desperate. I had been trying to talk to her for a week, and every time she turned me away without having even heard what I got to say_. What's a wolf to do to win her imprint?_

"Well, there she is." He pointed to the farthest corner of the hallway and sure there was my Kim, looking refreshed from her weekend. At least she enjoyed herself, because when it came to me, I was too busy protecting La Push and stalking my soon to be girlfriend.

"Kim's all alone!" Paul became exited at the prospect of getting me to stop wailing all day.

**You'll see a side of love you've never known.**

**I can see it going down, going down.**

"I'm going no-"

"Wait you dumb ass," Paul held me by the collar of my T-shirt. I almost tore it off in order to get to her as quick as lightning but I refrained. _No funny super-powers in front of non supers._ "She is going to the bathroom, you beast."

When I looked at the door where she had disappeared from I saw the label: "GIRL BATHROOMS" it read. I sighed.

"I think she does it on purpose." I said crestfallen. Pouting like a five year old I took hold of the bag I had thrown at my friend in the haste of the moment.

"Probably." He laughs cruelly but sobers up fast. "She will we alone when she leaves though."

"Oh she will," Thankfully it dawned on me that she was walking to classes all alone- while really weird it was a miracle- and I was going to walk her like the gentleman I was. Even _if she tells me to go fuck myself. Without her participating it wasn't as pleasant. _

"Now turn off you creeper mode and be smooth," I nodded eagerly approaching the bathroom door. "And please don't beg."

I glared at my friend and told him to leave. I would have scared her if I had showed up with that retard on my tow. I waited for like seemed ages propping myself up the wall. The door opened a few times but none of them were Kim. Each time it opened I could hear giggles and smell tons of perfumes, but just one giggle and one scent held my interest. After watching three more girls leave the room and no sight of Kim I began to worry. What was she doing? She is okay, isn't she? No one is bullying her inside, right? What if she needs my help?

And that is what I hated about imprinting: the constant unnecessary worry. I say this because since I was a child- probably I'm not as grown up as I think I am- I did stupid things while worried.

Willing myself to stay calm I tapped my foot in the floor a couple of times and decided to use my wolf advantages. I decided not to use the smell, because gross, but glued my ear in the door trying to listen to her. I heard a girl complaining about her boyfriend and his lack of romanticism – how could you talk about being romantic in a bathroom was beyond me- another girl saying how totally cool her boots were, but no sign of Kim.

_Maybe there is a back door_, I thought.

I heard footsteps all over the place- clearly they were moving or doing some sort of conga dance, who knows- and then nothing. I pressed my ear closer to the door if was possible and near fell inside the room. I looked baffled at being caught, more for the fact that lately I was hardly surprised and totally ashamed as Kim stood in front of me looking as I had killed his puppy.

_Mental note: look for Lucky in the woods._

As I was practically inside I could see that there wasn't any back door and they weren't doing nothing like a conga dance, they just had entered or/and exited the cabins and others followed. Kim walked away to her class without a spare look at me while a group of preteens shrieked when they caught sight of me. Running straight into Kim but stopping quickly and placing myself by her side I cleared my throat ready to begin a wonderful conversation.

"H-hey," I started brilliantly. When she didn't answer I pressed. "Are you going to avoid me for the rest of your life?"

"No. Just for the rest of your life." She retorted back looking bored.

I laughed at that, because she was setting herself for more disappointment. I did not grow old, another perk of being a werewolf hottie. My amusement might have startled her because she looked at me and rolled her eyes.

"Come on, the only thing I want," _is you_ "is talk to you. Make amends." Knowing truth was the best policy I went on. "There's so much I need to apologize for, and for the most part I haven't been a good friend."

"I thought we never were." _Ouch._

"Of course we were. Are?" Hope was clear in my eyes as she stared at me incredulously but wasn't going to give in that easy.

"What had gotten into you now?" She stopped and turned to me fully crossing her arms waiting for a response I wasn't sure she wanted to know.

If I had been totally sincere I would have said SHE had gotten into me, under my skin. Since we weren't on safe ground I decided a controlled and measured reply had to do the trick.

"I've changed my ways," The need to grab her and reassure her I wasn't playing tricks on her was big, the mistrust in her eyes made me put my hands in my pockets though. "I want to show you I did."

A reply was forming in her luscious lips when her eyes grew big and she walked away running. I just stood there frozen on the spot. What the hell had just happened?

**In my head, I see you all over me.**

**In my head, you fulfill my fantasy.**

**You'll be screaming more.**

Running again behind her –I seemed to do that a lot as of late- I found her in the little music room and heard her fumbling through the boxes. _Is she trying to hide from me?_ I looked at her as if she had grown a third head and decided this time was as good as any to set things clear. Kim looked startled that I had followed her all the way, like a deer caught in the head lights. Closing the door behind me I put my hands in front of me as if to show her I wasn't going to hurt her. I didn't even know where she got that stupid idea.

"Kim, running away is not the answer."I said with a gentle voice. She had to understand, she just had to.

"What? What answer?" She put her hands on her hips. My imprint looked so sexy at that moment. I noticed two little bells in her hands which ringed when she moved. "I came here because Mr. Krause sent me to gather some things for our class."

Now she was staring at me as if I was the dumbest thing on earth. I probably was.

"Oh…Ah… Nice, he is a cool teacher." I said blushing three shades of red. And there I was thinking she was escaping me.

Kim found that rather funny because a small smile crept to her face. I had never felt so good at making someone smile. I was about to engage her in our past conversation when her face became dark again. Her roller coaster like emotions were leaving me exhausted, all in all it was extremely interesting to be with Kim.

She got pass me and stop right in front of the door, a look of pure horror on her beautiful angel like face. I furrowed my eyebrows and tried to look from her angle what was that shockingly terrible. When I found nothing I concluded I had been blessed with a freaky imprint. _If she gets freaky in bed I won't mind._

I shook my head getting rid of such perverted thoughts which with Kim near wouldn't end very well, for me. Well for her. _She would like it, not even for her._ There was a clicking sound coming from where Kim was trying to open the door but anything she did was futile the door handle didn't even turned.

**In my head, it's going down.**

**In my head, it's going down.**

Then it dawned on me: this was the "music room".

"Oh fuck," I say under my breath.

"Fuck is just right." She said resting her head in the door. "You were the one who closed the door, weren't you?" The hopeless ring in her voice made me wanted to slap myself silly.

There was no avoiding the truth, so I nodded and when I noticed she couldn't see me I mumbled a regretful "Yeah".

"How do you manage to complicate everything?" She turned to me and glared forcefully. I shrunk back feeling suddenly very little and weak.

"It was not me who ran away making me believe you were having some sort of episode there." I defended myself from her accusing stare.

"Look who talks about episodes!" Throwing the bells at my face I heard my imprint try to break the door with her delicate feminine hands. She wasn't getting any effect from the lock.

The problem with the room was that the door was tricky. At first it could be opened –just with a special key- from the inside and outside, but some asshole decided to mess with the locks and now the only way to open the door is with the key and just from outside. As I was scared to find, Kim was holding the key in her other hand.

Before she probably hurt her hands I grabbed her by the elbows and put her away far from the door. _Maybe I could get to open the door with my super strength without her noticing_. One thing I knew, I couldn't break the damn door in front of her –that and that I would have to pair for it, no thanks.

"This doesn't budge." I stated as matter of fact.

"All those ridiculous muscles and can't open a door?" I felt her presence right behind me, closer than I thought and turned to look at her with a sheepish smile.

"You checked out my muscles?"

Kim blushed furiously and sighed exasperated moving me out of the way. _Oh yeah she did._ Next thing I knew Kim was yelling at the top of her lungs.

"SOMEONE!" I noticed how she took on deep breaths to gather more oxygen. I noticed how that was moving her chest too. "HELP! HELP! SOMEONE!"

"They are in class," Completely avoiding me she went on screaming and even jumped a bit as if that was going to make her yell louder.

_I know how to make her yell louder_. I smirked to myself and watched as she jumped and screamed like there was no tomorrow. Watching her move was turning me on like nothing else- I was easily turned on by her- and the tent on my pants was becoming painfully obvious.

**In my head, I see you all over me.**

**In my head, you fulfill my fantasy.**

**You'll be screaming more.**

"Kim," My voice cracked a bit, but she was too concentrated on bouncing up and down. Clearing my throat I tried again. "Kim you can yell all you want, no one is going to hear you scream."

"That sounded creepy." She said bracing herself against the door. "I just had to get these damn bells and go back in five minutes, but you appeared and I forgot! Now look where we are."

"Is it that bad to be locked in here with me?" I asked trying to make a joke out of it, but her possible answer was bothering me quite bad.

She pressed her back against the door – images of me backing her up against a wall came flooding onto my mind- and let herself slide to the floor sitting there in front of the door Indian style.

"No, it's not that." Her hands rested on her knees as she asked me: "Why are you suddenly stalking me?"

I stood there very stiff trying to make out an excuse as to why I had been following her around all weekend. I knew someday I had to tell her about my "hairy problem", but that wasn't going to happen any soon. Was it possible that she had seen me at the outskirts of the forest? I even hid behind the bushes.

"I'm n-not stalking you…" I muttered almost imperceptibly.

"You are just weird, first you sweet talk me into believing I had a chance with you, then reject me, disappear only to come back and beg for forgiveness. Can you see a pattern here? Because I don't."

I almost sighed in relief realizing she didn't mean stalking literally.

"Because I have matured over the weeks I was out of school." That was true. Having to be a protector changed the point of view I had of a lot of things.

She snorted but looked like she wanted to believe me. I sat next to her and held her petite hand, she did not pull it away so I added my other hand. Taking a deep breath I looked into her emerald eyes wishing I could tell her exactly what she wanted to hear from me.

"I'm sorry, but I'm telling the truth this time... and I'm not going to take it back once my friends or Tanya show around."

"So you keep saying, I don't go with words anymore though Jared." I felt a shiver run up and down my spine when she said my name in such a throaty voice.

"Let me show you." I leaned my head close to hers and my eyes zeroed on her mouth. It was like a magnet and I was a goner for her rosy lips. The look on her face was priceless, between surprise and lust and I just couldn't help myself, so I leaned in more until our breaths were mingling.

I closed my eyes and waited for her soft lips to touch mine but they never came. I could feel her nearness and I knew she was hesitating. Taking the decision from her I reached one hand to her face and brought her mouth to mine with eagerness.

**You'll see a side of love you've never known.**

**I can see it going down, going down.**

The softness I felt was indescribable, the electricity current that ran through me was exhilarating. I had imagined kissing her for a week- and even more- but it never compared to the real thing. Never thought I would have the chance to have her willingly letting me kiss her with all the passion I've been holding for her since that day at Tia's party. I felt myself wanting more and pressed my mouth harder against hers. At first she responded and let out a small moan -which riled me up -but when I brought my other hand to her waist, she pushed me away with all the strength she had. She wouldn't have really moved me, but I pulled away although that was far from what I wanted to do to her. She got up and put a hand over her mouth as if what had happened was wrong.

"You cannot get your way like this!" Kim huffed as she paced the little room like a caged exotic beast.

"We enjoyed it, there is no denying it." I said while I got up following her trembling frame. It had been so prefect I wasn't thinking it was out of character for me to kiss her.

"Don't do that-"Then she went on mumbling under her breath. "Uuurgg! You are an exasperating egoistical jerk!"

I could see tears forming on the corners of her eyes and I felt like someone had punched me square on the face. I reached my hands to her heart shaped face wanting nothing more than to calm her down, but she swatted them away and got the farthest she could from me. I flinched at her reaction because seriously the last thing you need to see is your soul mate being repulsed by you. I sighed and berated myself for going too fast on her. It wasn't as if she was going to forget everything I did to her because she felt weirdly connected to me.

Kim stood there not looking directly at me and wiping the non fallen tears with her sleeves. She looked so beautiful with her swollen lips. Maybe I hadn't started at the right pace with her, but I was determinate to kiss her again and next time, she wouldn't push me away. Somehow I had made that just much harder. _Why was I such an impatient man? _

"I'm sorry." I held my head down. "But I can't help myself."

"Oh please." Chuckling and closing her eyes she rested her head on the door. I knew she was listening to me so I took my chance to tell her why I was being so weird.

"I like you. A lot." Kim stiffened, her back tensed but I knew I couldn't touch her. That fact tormented my wolf. "I really do, that's why I'm all over you following like a puppy." I gulped loudly. I wasn't sure if saying that was going to soften her, but at least she wasn't cursing me anymore. Kim blushed and bit her lip, looking anywhere but at me.

She didn't reply and turned away peering out from the small window the door had. A part of me was sad she hadn't even acknowledged me after I had confessed that, but other part of me was grateful she wasn't seeing how much I was blushing. Being silent the whole time we were trapped till Mr. Krause came looking for Kim and fetched the janitor who opened the damn door with his special key, I decided to give her time to adjust to what I had dropped on her. Kim took off without a goodbye and I thought my soul just died a little that day.

"What did you do to that girl? She was all emotional." The janitor Robert asked me looking accusingly at me.

"I told her I liked her."

"Women." He shook his head and turned around to leave.

Indeed women, that girl in particular, were going to be the death of me.

~º~º~º~º~ That night, La Push woods~º~º~º~º~

"Hey at least you kissed her." Paul patted my back as we made our way to Sam's house for a break.

I smiled dumbly at the memory. Although she did not let me near her in a mile radius I had that kiss to cherish and remember. I had been thinking about what would have happened there if she hadn't stopped me and I felt myself get instantly hard. I was horny as hell.

**In my head, it's going down.**

**In my head, it's going down.**

"You need to get laid anyway."

"Jerk." But I could see it getting down in my head.

"Now you attack my man."

"I need more time with her though, she always gets the way to sneak away from me." I grumbled as we got to Sam's and opened the door. We were greeted by Emily in her apron and a basket of bread o her hands.

"Hey boys, how's it going?"

"Our boy here got his first kiss." Paul said proudly.

"Hey it's not the first time-"

"Oh my God! Things already progressing, that's awesome!" Emily squealed pleased with the news. "When are you bringing her here?"

Her eyes were full of hope and I knew she wanted- needed- another female to talk about –girl stuff- but I wasn't going to please her any time soon. Not if every step forward meant three steps back.

"Em… things are not okay between us, so it's gonna take a little while."

"Oh…" She looked disappointed at first but her nature made her feel sorry for me. She touched my hand and smiled comforting me.

"Don't worry Mama Wolf," said Paul stuffing his mouth with bread. "We will bring her here for you, I'm going to help Jay Jay with that."

"Paul!" I throw my shirt at him. "Swallow first would you?"

"It's okay pups," Emily went on cooking while talking to us from the kitchen. "Jared you better worship the ground she walks on."

We laughed and joked a little bit more till Sam came in strolling through the door and kissed Emily passionately. I wanted that with Kim. _Some day… some day._

**In my head.**

* * *

**How was it? Like it hate it? Jared is so cute for his own good but he deserves to have things difficult- at least for a while- Kim is giving in though! Who wouldn't? Hehehe. Reviews make me happy so pretty please with Jared on top? :D**

**PS: Also I did a drawing- Jared and Kim kissing!- now I gotta say I just like drawing and even if people do say I'm good at it I'm not so sure, so when I found a way to post it you all can tell me.**


	9. Chapter 9

**It's been forever, and I know every time I say the same thing. I'm so sorry. Really sorry. Anyway, here is the new chapter and the next it's half written! Hop e you enjoy it, this time from Kim POV. Also wanted to thank everyone who read, put on alert, fave and/or reviewed! Thanks for waiting patiently- or not (littlefrog) lol. **

**Thanks to my awesome beta Lucy aka I left my heart in tokyo! Thanks to her efficiency and good ideas. **

**Also I would like to warn, I mean it will sound stupid but well bear with me lol, in this chapter Kim and her friends go crazy and I remind for those underage- I myself was one when started reading fanfics- readers, it might sound funny in a story but in real life things are way too different and things can go wrong. Plus consuming alcohol or escape from home at a young age is not what we want for our little brothers, sisters, daughters or sons. This being said I will stop pretending I'm everyone's mom LoL. Still I felt I had to say it. **

* * *

**Disclaimer: I ****do not own Twilight. **

**STUCK WITH EACH OTHER ****Chapter 9: Puppy dog eyes.**

_**Michaela Wright –Never gonna give in. **_

**~º~º~º~La Push High, Monday morning ~º~º~º~**

"Hello,"

"Good morning." I replied frostily. _He wasn't going to take the hint, was he? All week with the same song, this pursuit was driving me crazy! _

"How was your weekend?"

**And I don't wanna waste my time on you****  
****After all the things you put me through.**

Jared fully turned to me showing his boyish grin. Before, I would have swooned, melted or stupidly smiled back, but not now. After our last encounter I had avoided-yet again- all conversation with him. God knew I couldn't look at him without blushing. So I did_._

It showed to be a bad moment to blush because my brilliant companion thought his smile had affected me in some way. It had irked me.

"Short."

"Mine was way too long."

_Who had asked you?_ I was tempted to say so, but polite Kim wouldn't have any of it. He wasn't going to get a rise out of me that day. I sighed and began doing my essay. As if that wasn't proof enough I wanted to stop our little chit chat, he neglected his notebook pushing it away. No surprise there, it wasn't as if he cared about grades. That wasn't any of my business anyway.

"How about we have lunch together, huh?" Surprise was written all over my face as I stopped writing. This approach was new. "Yes, Me and you." He finished with a 'seductive smile'.

Something must have affected him, maybe poisoned food. "What did you have for breakfast today?"

"If I tell you would you come with me?" I wanted to laugh at his goofiness, but I knew if I did he wouldn't stop his advances.

"No."

His face fell at my rejection. I thought he would have been used to it by then. He had been grilling me about spending time with him in any innocent friendly way, as he had put it.

When he wasn't following me across the school hallway's he was waiting next to the bathroom door saying he was causally passing by. He wasn't even faced when I called on his bullshit one day when I purposely entered the room and waited for like twenty minutes and he was still there. Jared had been relentless at the 'let's follow Kim everywhere' game.

"Come on, I'm begging you." He pleaded with his best puppy dog eyes. He was so darn cute! But I was relentless too and declined his offer again.

"No, Jared."

He grumbled under his breath like an old grandpa. It was funny to see but after a couple of minutes mumbling he decided he wasn't giving up.

"I would pester you until you give in."

Not looking at me but at the front of the class where our teacher was agitatedly giving his lesson, Jared's smile didn't falter although he was pretending to be paying attention.

"Is that a threat?" I wanted to be mad and show it in my voice. Alas, I failed and he chuckled while thinking an adequate answer.

"If it gets you to come with me," he answered on a low husky voice. "You can count on that."

Looking at me from the corner of his eye he waited for my rejection, but raised his eyebrows when a small smile broke into my face. Biting the inside of my cheek I suppressed the urge to smile wider and nodded, writing my paper again as if we had not talked at all.

I couldn't believe we were on such good terms already. I wasn't going to surrender to his charm any time soon, but at least escaping him was no longer the first thing that popped into my mind at the sight of Jared.

Doubt wasn't in my mind when we were together because finally I had receded on the idea that he was playing me. He had left his old friends for good- not that I wanted him to, but it was slightly endearing given they were such idiots- and stopped all interactions with Tanya.

Although, as far as I knew, he could have being seeing her outside and I wouldn't have any way to know. I did not trust him completely. In fact not even a little, but I thought if I let him explain himself and show me this whole "new Jared" thing then he would stop constantly pestering me. Deep inside, I was hoping that he might be genuine on his intentions. If not, I had plan B.

**And now there's nothing that you can do****  
****Cause I don't love you (Yes you do, yes you do)****  
****No, I don't love you**

If he showed to be the same old jackass, I was going to hurt him even more. No one knew revengeful Kim yet, but there would be hell to pay. Lily voted to beat the crap out of Jared the very next day, and was seconded by Angela and Kayla. Fortunately my love life wasn't a democracy.

***FLASHBACK***

"Are you really going to let that- that boy," Lily struggled with a decent description for Jared- curse free- glaring angrily at me. "Waltz his way back onto your life?"

We were lounging in my bedroom, lying on the floor doing our homework when I brought up the subject. Angela was reading a magazine saying that indeed there was culture, but whatever.

"He doesn't have free pass," I bit the tip of my pen nervously. "He just will think he does."

"I don't see much difference." Ang added mind absently from the corner of the room. "You are setting yourself for disappointment." Glancing at me over the magazine, she pitied me with her eyes.

She knew how much I hated it. Huffing out a long sigh, I sat crossed legged and forgot all about calculus and biology. I felt this time was different. I could feel it in my bones; I could see it in his eyes. But how I was going to tell that to my friends without looking like I had gone to crazy land with a first class ticket?

Magnetic pulls and mystic intuitions were words which did not work well with them. I had tried to close myself to him, not letting his sweet smile get to me, and for a while I believed Jared was pursuing me for mere fun.

On the other hand a twisted nagging voice inside my head told he might be trustworthy material this time. Why when I was doing so great without him, had Jared to come back and turn my world upside down? I couldn't tell them why I felt like giving him one last chance- it couldn't hurt so much, could it?- now that I knew not to give my all to him.

_He should better take baby steps if he wants any sort of relationship with me. _

"I'm not even agreeing to be friends, he will just show me whatever he wants to and then I will decide if I should be more open or kill him directly." That was the best explanation I could give them.

"You cannot ask us to like him though," Kayla surprised me standing against me on this one. _No one thought people deserved a second chance?_ "It might take us a lot of time and effort to see him as a decent suitor."

"Who says suitor nowadays?" Lily scoffed.

Kayla threw her pencil case at Lily in the face and they began quarreling in the floor playfully. Before any of them could get seriously hurt I got Angela to cut her cheering and stopped their momentum.

They all agreed to let me be, promising they wouldn't intervene between Jared and me whenever we together as they had being doing for the past month. They wouldn't stop their fulminate glares though.

We were on the middle of a tickle fight when a knock on the door stopped us. It opened and revealed a horrified Jordan with a try full of cookies and food for us.

"Hey short stuff," Letting go of Kayla and Lily's legs I grabbed the food from his still hands. "You brought this?" Eyeing the food suspiciously I sniffed it a couple of times before I thought it was edible.

"Isn't he cute?" Angela jumped to her feet and dragged a blushing Jordan to my room.

I complained about having my baby brother listening to my conversations but she waved me off pecking Jordan's beat red cheeks.

We all sat and ate watching how Angela made Jo-Jo even more embarrassed. I thought he would have flown the room at the very first moment, but realized he was quite enjoying himself being pampered by Ang.

After all the food was gone mom came fuming upstairs.

"Jordan!" We heard an angry Jasmine yell from the end of the stairs. "I told you to come back right away!"

My brother went pale- hard to do so since he was the darkest from the family- and hid under my bed. We laughed and decided to play along.

"Hey girls." Mom said opening, the door not caring to knock. I glared at her but it had no effect.

"Jas!" The girls greeted her.

"I see he brought you the food. Where's that kid?" With her hands on her hips and the pink apron, she was quite funny to look at.

Holding back our laughs we shrugged but did not convince anyone. She scanned the room as if she had X-ray vision- which she probably had- and smiled when her stare stopped at the end of the bed.

"Jordan Lucas Connweller, get out from under that bed this instant!"

She was using his full name. He was in trouble. I turned to see how she had found out and saw a couple of tennis shoes sticking out under the bed. His little legs wiggled a bit and then he was out looking through his long lashes like a kicked puppy. What was with boys and puppy dog eyes?

"I know you don't like doing your homework, but when I told you to bring these into the girls, it wasn't for you to stay here chatting all day."

"Mom-"

"Don't mom me, down now."

I felt bad for my brother, but mom was right, he bailed whenever he could from doing his homework. Such a piece of work Jordan was. Looking embarrassed, he stole a glance at Angela and his eyes got full of unshed tears. My heart broke for him and I wanted to hug him but Angela beat me to it.

"I'm sorry Jasmine, I made him stay." She said while Jordan's lower lip quivered.

"Okay, that's fine. Jordan come on now, leave the girls to it. Time to do some math." Mom said in a more gently voice grabbing Jordan's hand, dragging his sad figure to the kitchen.

When they were gone Angela said remorsefully: "Oh my god, I feel so bad, it was my fault."

"Angela, like you didn't know how Jordan was already without your help." Lily said comforting her, while mouthing a sorry to me.

"She is right, plus he enjoyed being kidnapped and forced against his will by you."

We laughed at that but then Angela asked confused: "What did you mean?"

Rolling my eyes I decided to explain what everyone could see but her.

"My brother has a crush on you, that's what I mean."

***END FLASHBACK***

Being the good sister I am, I didn't annoy my baby brother with his crush, but someday I was going to blackmail him with that information.

I smiled to myself knowing I looked like a psycho_. Who laughs looking at a pencil?_ Shaking my head I looked at my partner just to find he was already watching me rather curious. I noticed his piercing eyes getting darker and then smirked and looked away_._

**And you said: "I need you to trust me,****  
****I really need you in the vein".**

So basically I was going to give Jared a second chance. Sort of. I would set my fears aside and let him in once more before shut him down completely if things did turn for the worst. I hoped I wouldn't have to really do it, because sincerely I had never imagined a life without him since the day he hit me with a volley ball. Damn his puppy dog eyes!

* * *

"Are you just going to eat _that_?" Jared asked with a worried tone.

"Are you going to eat all of that?" I retorted back. It was bad enough that I was intimidated by him and all the teenagers watching to have to eat the double of my weight in food.

Making our way to an empty table I passed next to my friends' full one. I couldn't hold the flinch when they murdered Jared with their looks. It was like Lily was throwing grenades at him just by staring. Jared did not seem the least bit fazed and nodded to them putting a hand on the small of my back leading me away.

I had grabbed a sandwich and a bottle of lemonade, but I had no idea how I was supposed to gulp them down since I had my throat closed from anxiety.

I told myself to relax and just pretend he wasn't there, after all I wasn't hanging out with him to have fun or be friends. Munching on my meal, I watched as Jared wolfed down his food. I had never seen a human being eating so much and enjoying it the way he did. _No way he could of even of tasted the food, how fast he was shoving it down his throat!_

I cleared my throat. I wanted him stop eating- or to finally gulp my own food- and talk to me. With his mouth full of food and a bit of it trailing down his chin, he looked up at me with startled eyes, possibly thinking I would be the one to start a conversation.

"Sorry, I got a bit carried away," He swallowed and smiled sheepishly.

Call me helpless romantic or cliché teenager but seeing food on his face did not make me think he was gross but so cute! What the hell was wrong with me? This sort of stuff usually would repulse me, but Jared pulled it off. He made it seem… sexy?

"I didn't know you were enjoying your food that much." I said pointing to my chin to show him he had food over there. He wasn't so bright to take the hint.

"I'm glad you accepted, finally," his voice took a relieved tone. "My offer. One of them anyway."

"Jared-"

"Spending time with you means a lot to me."

"Thanks, but-"

"I was a jerk before, but I swear I've broke up with my past. This might be sudden to you, but believe me when I say that this," he said pointing to the space between us. "It's what I want. I needed to grow up and stand for what I thought was right and you are right for me."

"Yes, Ja-"

He cut me off again by raising a hand. "I reacted poorly last time we talk privately," he halted as if thinking of something rather amusing and the twinkle on his eyes revealed what about. "I mean, after our kiss things got heated, he-heated because then we argued, n-not because we were, well hu-hum… not that I wasn't! The kiss was fine, really fine, God it was… Say something please; I don't know what I'm saying anymore." He pleaded biting his lip.

"Jared," I understood what he meant by 'reacting poorly' but watching him stammer was too funny to miss. "You have sauce all over your chin." Holding back my laugh I handed him a napkin which he took quickly from my hand. I snickered and watched as he rolled his eyes.

"Okay, now tell me what you think about what I said while I look for a place to hide my face…"

I decided not to let his mortification go on and sighed ready to tell him as far as I could without giving out my intentions before he did his.

I couldn't understand my voluble attitude when it came to him and to some degree I hated I was giving him a chance to explain himself, but that nagging voice wouldn't shut up so there I was ready to fall on the same trap. God knew I deserved being laughed at for this.

**And I said: "Yeah right. No way,****  
****You're gonna play me again".**

"I'm trying to work things out as I go." I stated not looking at him. "I'm not going to lie to you and say I'm going to fully trust you, 'cause I can't. You must understand that."

He nodded and picked at his food which now held no interest for him. Taking a sip of my lemonade, I went on.

"But you swear now and again that you've changed, and you want to show me." Jared nodded again but I wasn't able to decipher which emotion passed through his eyes. That scared me and knowing I had to take the risk to at least believe him at some point did not make it easier. "So do it."

"It's going to be-"

"On the other hand," I cut him off. One thing was playing along and deposit a little bit of my trust in him and other completely different was to give him green light to do with me as he wished. "We are not friends."

His face hardened and he stared gloomily at his food but nodded.

"And you can't go on kissing me whenever you feel like it." I added blushing from head to toe. Was I really forbidding Jared Thail to show me any kind of affection? _Oh mad world. What was I doing to myself?_

"I'm really sorry about that." I didn't know how to feel about him apologizing for kissing me. "I got carried away."

"You tend to do so, yeah." He shot me a winning smile despite having just told him I didn't rely on him and wanted him nowhere near me. "I don't think this is the best place to talk about…" I forced myself to say it. "…your feelings for me." I finished in a whisper. Jared heard it and nodded again.

"No need to feel embarrassed about it." Shrugging, he grabbed my hand which had been picking at the sandwich, which was now destroyed. "I was the one running my mouth out there."

Pulling my hand away from his grasp, I watched as his eyes dropped to the floor. It was as hard for him as it was for me it seemed. All I wanted to do at that moment was jump from my seat and snuggle with him in his chair. But that might never happen, and I had to remind myself of that.

Looking at my phone I saw we had five minutes left and sighed in dismay. Time flew by when I was with Jared.

"Your friends are coming to your aid,"

There in front of us where Lily, Angela and Kayla waiting for me impatiently. It was really annoying being stared at by your own friends, while you're trying to tell your crush that you don't trust him and telling yourself that things sometimes will never happen.

"I better go." I told Jared, although that was the last thing I wanted to do.

I couldn't show much affection towards him in front of my girls for what they would have my ass later. He looked like he was going to follow me but refrained himself to do so. Maybe I wanted to believe he didn't want me to go.

Waving at me from his seat he resumed eating his now cold food while my steps dragged me away and out of sight.

**~º~º~º~ Connweller's house, much later ~º~º~º~**

The fact that your friends hate the guts of your crush really sucks. It's way worse when they have a reason to do it. Stupid Jared.

"He apologized and thanked you for the chance." Lily's bored voice came from the phone.

"Yeah."

"And promised he wasn't going to take advantage of you anymore."

He did agree he wouldn't kiss me at wish, but he never promised not to take advantage. _When had he done so anyway?_

"Kayla, he never tried anything with me!" I couldn't believe she, out of all people, held the strongest dislike for Jared.

"Anything she wasn't ready for anyway."

"Oh yeah, so funny Ang." Rolling my eyes, I was tempted to hang up on them. Sometimes this four sided connection was a shitty thing. "You all promised to behave, so none of that parenting Kim crap now. You all hear me?" I was referring to their sudden desire to come for me before the bell went out. Five minutes could be decisive.

"Yes Capitan." Came the reply from the threesome.

"I'm going to bed, see you tomorrow." I wanted the day to finish so I could see Jared again and see what he was planning to show me. I couldn't tell them that. They would feel rejected and by none other than Jared. My friends were going to despise him even more if that was possible.

**And you said: "Now this time is different.****  
****I know you're gonna give in".**

"Aw Kim, what a buzz kill, stay for another hour."

"An hour? Ang, I need my beauty sleep and its twenty past eleven already." I whined, pleading them to let me sleep.

"You're so boring," Ang said stretching the 'o' from boring for almost a minute. "See you tomorrow then!"

"Night Kimmy!"

"Good night!"

"Night girls."

I got on my PJ's and watched my reflection in the mirror. It had more life than a couple of weeks ago. Maybe accepting Jared was for a bigger purpose.

He said he was going to show me, and I was intrigued about what he had in store for me. I hoped it all were good things. I wished my lucky stars Jared wouldn't let me down.

In the darkness of my room, out in the chilly night I heard the howl of a wolf.

Guess that could be sign.

**~º~º~º~ La Push High, next day ~º~º~º~**

Next day was pretty uneventful but for the little incident in my bedroom when Emma came jumping over me, waking me up in the worst way possible. To top it off she wanted the last gossip firsthand since she heard about my meeting with Jared. Even if she disliked him- the whole chicks before dicks and the fact that I was her sister- Em surprised me supporting me, feebly, on giving him a sort of second chance. After that she confided me she was going to castrate him if he pulled other stunt like the first. A chill run down my spine knowing she would do it.

After the rough awakening, I found myself depressed over the fact that Jared was nowhere in sight. He wasn't by my side in Art class and wasn't present when lunch time came. I had to hide my profound disappointment each time someone entered the cafeteria and they weren't tall, dark and handsome.

_It might be a wasted day_, I thought sourly.

To make matters worse, Jared decided not to show up the following day either which made me more depressed. _I open my heart to him and he disappears? Again?_ The atmosphere around me was depressing, but who could blame me? It was hard enough to trust him when I was actually watching over him and even then my imagination got the best of me. What's more, Paul did come to class- even if he was not paying attention- at least was there.

**No no no no, never gonna give in****  
****(yes you are, yes you are)**

It was unnerving to have Paul looking at me 24/7. He did not know it, but being sneaky was not his best quality. Somehow I doubted he wanted to be, given that he would wink at me or wave as we were long term friends. Fortunately Angela wasn't by my side when he decided to act all weird, I wasn't sure I would have handled it correctly.

"Really? You're not going to ask me where is he?"

Leaning against his locker- which miserably was in front of mine- Paul stared, knowing something I obviously didn't.

"You want me to ask you?" _I'm fed up with your mind games, leave me alone!_

He laughed but went on with the charade. "You want to ask?"

"Should I want to?"

"Are you going to stop answering with questions?"

"Are you going to?"

He stared for a couple of minutes, daring me to look away. "You're cool enough Connweller."

He left laughing to himself while I wondered if I had been under some initiation ritual. God those boys were weird.

Dragging my feet to the next class I got lost in my thoughts. _Where could he be? Was he with some girl while I was grumpy and irritable here in school?_ My head hurt at the thought. He could be sick too. But he had already been, or so he said. His disappearance is what worried me the most. Not just he turns back physically matured, but with new acquaintances, not caring about the lost ones. The Jared I knew would have never given his back on 'his people', but who was the Jared that had came back?

What was he doing with Sam and Paul roaming the woods? Why he never seemed cold? What had happened to him out there for him to change? Had Sam anything to do with it?

With a horrible headache I entered history class and sat alone at the back. Luckily there was Tanya looking boringly at her manicured hand- and I said luckily 'cause that meant Jared wasn't hooking up with her. Sighing with relief at least one question flew out of my mind. He was not with Tanya.

_Not now. _

How long could I go on like this? Doubting everything I knew about him? If I wanted this to work- and I tell you I wanted to with all my soul- I had to find answers on my own. There was no point at sitting back and wait for everyone to do the dirty work. If Jared was lying to me I wanted know ASAP. It was a small town, secrets couldn't go on forever. I decided to do a little investigation on my own.

Some people would call it stalking, but I call it an intense research of an individual. Plus it was for my own good.

Hours couldn't go any slower and I found myself doodling on my notebook. I would have to ask for these later, I thought bitterly. I hated to ask for someone's notes.

* * *

"Thought you'd never get out!"

Jordan was pacing in front of the car with his jacket wide open and his backpack on the floor. He looked like he had been quarreling- he probably had- and even if he was freezing he preferred to wear his scarf in total Jordan fashion: anywhere but around his neck.

"How was your day?" I asked in a sweeter voice than usual. He surely knew how to be a charmer. Rolling his eyes he got in the car and closed the door with a loud thump. Siblings in a bad mood were a pain in the ass.

After a couple of minutes, Em was goodbying her friends and running towards the car which I had previously ignited.

"How can you be so tardy?"

"Get the dwarf home quickly or he is going to piss his pants."

"I'm not dwarf!"

"Stop it!" Yelling was the only thing which got them under control. "Don't edge him on Em," She huffed and stared pointedly at the rear view mirror. "You're not prince charming today either Jordan, what has you in a fuss?"

"Nothing," He muttered grumpily.

"Jordan…"

We arrived at home safely and everyone bolted from the car going to their own bedrooms.

"And thanks to you too, have a good day!"

Talking alone in the driveway I held the keys on my hands while contemplating the idea of beginning my research that same day. I wrote a note saying I was going to Kayla's- I couldn't tell I was going to hunt Jared down- and left without saying goodbye since they were all Mr. Pissy pants.

**~º~º~º~ La Push reservation, much much later ~º~º~º~**

Driving across the reservation for an hour hadn't showed me anything interesting nor had I discovered Jared in any compromising situation. Passing his two story blue house I thought about paying him a visit. _He had said he wanted to spend time with me_, but I wasn't going to show interest. However, I couldn't shake the feeling something fishy was going on, and while before I would have relayed on the people I thought my friends, now I was going to take matter in my own hands.

I noticed Jared's car was in the driveway so he probably was at home. Other car was stationed behind his truck. What if he was with some girl inside his house?

**I cannot just remind you what you put me through.****  
****I believed everything you said you'd do.**

Jealousy mixed with rage ate me away and without thinking it twice I got out of the car and knocked on the Thail's door furiously. I saw red while I thought he wasn't going to delude me into his games anymore. As was to be expected, after I had called so rudely at their door, the rational part of my brain-which had shut down previously- awoke and told me to make a run for it. But it was too late since a petite woman with a sweet face and happy smile was standing in front of me.

_It could be his parent's car, you know?_

"Hello dear,"

"Oh, hum, Hi Mrs. Thail." I said, my cheeks coloring. I stood there not knowing that to say or do. _What do I do? What do I DO!_

"You know me." The women stated curiously. She was ten times shorter than Jared, but his eyes and smile were definitely hers. "Sorry I don't know you hun."

"I'm…" A friend? No I'm not. _Mental note: do not act on an impulse ever_ _again!_

The woman smiled and stretched her arm to shake my hand which I awkwardly did. While trying not to hyperventilate I thought about some excuse to get out of this mess. Unfortunately I found none. I looked like a gaping idiot.

"Good to meet you, ah-"

"Kimberly, Kim Connweller." I said embarrassed. I didn't want anyone to call me by my full name.

Her eyes widened in recognition, I didn't know of what kind and her smile grew even wider. Her breaths came in short gasps and I feared she was going to pass out. Just what I needed, to kill the mother of my… whatever Jared was.

"Are you Kim?"

The elation in her voice was scared me. Had Jared talked to her about me already? To his mom? What the…

"Ye-yes, from La Push Hi-"

"You are as beautiful as Jared described!" Now it was my time to pass out. "Oh darling, I've been waiting to meet you for weeks on end! You should give my son a break, I know a mother-in-law is used to be feared but I needed to meet you." She went on explaining how glad she was I finally made it and how she was going to give his son a good lashing for not telling her sooner so she could tidy up the house.

I saw myself being dragged inside a well decorated kitchen and was unable to form a coherent thought. What the hell had been Jared telling his mother? Mother-in-law what?

"Mrs. Thail I don't-" A little boy was munching some cookies looking at me expectantly. "Hello,"

He looked at his mom then at me and said shyly: "Hi, I'm Danni."

"Kim."

"Are you Jared's girlfriend?" Mini Jared asked me innocently. _What do I say?_

"Ah-"

"Oh, I'm sorry, sure you feel uncomfortable without Jared being here. I don't know where that kid has his mind." _I'm I being punked?_

The little boy with chestnut hair and hazel dark eyes stood up, kissed her mom's cheek and shook my hand politely. _If his brother was as lovely..."_He is on pat-"

"Baby-" His mother cut him off nervously. Her voice was an octave higher. "Go play in your room, okay?"

"Fine, nice to meet you Jared's girlfriend."

Before I could clarify I was not even his brother's friend the kid took off, his petite body bowing up and down while he trotted happily. Seeing the apprehension in my face, Mrs. Thail tried to placate my fear.

"He might be here in a few."

My blood ran cold. _Then I need to get out in less than a few._

"I'm home!"

_Too _late. _Wait,_ _did I just hear the greeting coming from upstairs?_

My suspicions were confirmed when I saw his approaching figure coming from upstairs. _Why didn't he come in from the front door?_

"Mom what-KIM!" He looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Probably I was the same. We stared at each other for like seemed like ages. "Go-good to see you." He smiled nervously looking from me to her mother who was suspiciously looking at the both of us.

"Hi." _Awesome comeback, really as in brilliant._

"No need to be all awkward around me." Mrs. Thail laughed grabbing teabags from the cabinet. "When were you going to tell me I was going to meet famous Kim?" Scolding her son like a two year old must have been funny if not for the embarrassing situation I was in.

"Famous?"

"Um… mom,"

"Yeah honey, you would think he would control himself on talking about you, but being in a relationship makes it harder." She laughed.

"Jared, what relationship?" Asking out loud made Jared's mothers realize she had made a big mistake.

The three of us stared at each other in deafening silence comprehending the situation we were in. Mrs. Thail covered her mouth with her hand and widened her eyes at her son.

**After all the cheating and the lies****  
****Now I see you right through your disguise.****  
**

"You didn't know you were…" she trailed off unsure.

"Now she does." Jared mumbled dejected. Was _I in some parallel world and I hadn't realized it?_ "Mom could you give us some, um, time to talk." He sat down on the farthest chair from me avoiding all eye contact.

"Sure," Mrs. Thail grabbed me by the shoulders and gave me a gentle squeeze. "I'm sorry I spilled the beans, sure there would be other time to meet under better circumstances."

"Of course Mrs. Thail, it was nice to meet you." She was such a cheerful woman with high spirits that I couldn't deny anything to her. _Oh man, I am screwed._

She left and went upstairs shaking her head all the way. Fearful to turn around I stood there pondering if I could just run away now and get into the car before you can say 'mother-in-law'.

"I'm sorry about..." I felt Jared's presence behind me. "She tends to get carried away."

Despite the situation I laughed and faced him. His hands were trembling a little and I didn't know if it was because he was anxious or it had to do with his abnormal sickness.

"It must be genetic." _Awkward. "_Famous Kim? Care to explain that?"

He sighed and put his head in his big hands before giving me his answer.

"I have a tight relationship with my mom," he admitted blushing lightly. "I tell her a lot of things and you have been the only thing in my mind since-"he stopped short and looked panicky.

"Since?" Pressuring him never seemed to give me the answers I wanted but I tried nonetheless.

"Since I was such a jerk to you." It did not seem what he was going to say, but it was all I was going to get. "I told her how much I like you and…"

Jared couldn't bring himself to finish the explanation but I wasn't going to leave before he told me why her mom was ready to make wedding plans when I first arrived.

"Jared," I said gently. Just saying his name seemed to soothe him strangely. "It's okay, but when I came in she was talking as if I was your girlfriend and I quote 'I know a mother-in-law is used to be feared', in law?"

He groaned and laughed humorlessly. "I told her…"

"Some huge lie."

Putting his hand in his pockets he swayed his long form unsure how to say the next thing.

"I told her about you long ago," I nodded my head, blushing lightly. "And I might have implicated…" It wasn't looking good. "That… ." He finished in a humble.

"What?" Jared looked mortified enough to plead me to let it go but I wouldn't. Not now that I had went through so much.

"I told her first time you came here, you would…" he flinched. "…would already be my girlfriend?"

The way he ended it like a question made me laugh. He looked hurt I had laughed at him and I apologized quickly.

Then it dawned on me, he had already told his family we would date? If there was something I hated, was the feeling that someone could have complete control over me or take my decisions and choices away. I felt my blood boil at the mere thought that he could even think that just by his charming attitude he could have me dancing like a damn puppet. I was not a thing to own and much less to have for granted. I hated he had not considered that there might be the chance I wanted nothing to do with him when I was telling him so. Even if he looked abashed like he understood why I didn't want to see him he knew I was going to fall for him again. The nerve!

**Do ****You think, just maybe, that I won't take you back again?**

"So despite of my rejections to your advances, you told your mom we were going to get freaking married!" I hissed pocking at his chest.

"More or less." I gasped at his bluntness and felt the need to smack him. Hard. Jared was faster than me and grabbed my wrist. "Sorry, but you wouldn't want to do that."

"Oh yes, I want to." I stared daringly as his handsome face now inches away from mine.

"Kim don't you see?"

"See what? And your puppy dog eyes are not working on me this time!" Pulling away my hand I grabbed my bag and headed for the door but was stopped by Jared who was already there. _How did he get here that fast?_

"I told my mom, MOM," he repeated for good measure. "About you and how I feel about you, I wouldn't have done it if what I felt for you wasn't true."

He had a point. I also didn't want to give in. He needed to prove himself changed and a better man if he wanted to talk to me ever again. His stare was so intense I could hardly disagree with him.

"That's really sweet of you," Looking at him my voice dripped with sarcasm. "But you thought you already had me under your thumb didn't you?"

"It's not that,"

"You can't go assuming people feelings or reactions!" I was infuriated.

"I don't, but you are at least interested in me." Stating it as a matter of fact made me even angrier.

"Maybe I'm not after all."

Staring defiantly at each other in front of his front door he stepped closer to me. "You're not?" He asked amused much to my dismay. I wasn't able to fool anyone, was I?

Shaking my head from left to right I put on my cooler mask and for a moment it seemed to do the trick but a petty smile appeared in his face. My confidence wavered with each tickling second.

"If you don't care, as you say you don't," He was being fully sarcastic now and I hated it. "What were you doing here?"

He had another point. _Damn him!_

"Our teacher asked me to bring your homework." _Oh my God, why was I lying again_? "Since you didn't even make an appearance for two days." I said cheekily.

"So it's this what is all about?" This time was good as any to leave so I took steps back trying to find the knob with my back at the door. "You wanted to see what I was doing? You wanted to see if I was cheating?"

_Score._

"I said homework."

Opening the door I left Jared on his front porch smiling snidely at me and asked me when I was getting into my car. "Where are my notebooks?"

I found a used notepad full of drawings baby Hally did while bored on long trips. I grabbed it and threw it at him and took off pissed off like I had never been.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

But I wasn't going to give him that pleasure.

**~º~º~º~La Push high, Friday ~º~º~º~**

"Certainly, don't know what to say."

Those were the only words Kayla could muster after my rant about what had happened hours earlier. Not one detail escaped me, not even the suspicious way Jared arrived. Mrs. Thail wasn't even faced at the fact that her son hadn't used the front door. My friend nodded and gasped in all the right places while I ran out of air. I was really pissed at him and his laid-back behavior. My twisted life got even more confusing when I realized his feelings for me were no joke. That or his mom was on the prank.

"He has the balls," I yell whispered given that I didn't want anyone in her house to hear my foul vocabulary. "…to smirk like a damn know it all." If Lily had been there she would cheering me for cussing Jared, but alas she had to babysit her siblings. Angela couldn't make it either because she was with some aunt in Seattle. At least Kayla was there to hear me out.

"Relax, Kim, breathe through your nose." Her bedroom smell like baked goods which made it pretty disorientating.

"I can't! How can someone irk me so much and yet get to me so bad like he does?"

Almost tearing up I grabbed a pillow and punched like it was Jared's face. Kayla smiled ruefully at me shaking her head. I knew what she was thinking: I was doing such a big deal from nothing and giving Jared way to much importance in my life. She was right, there was no denying it, but I was way too gone to turn back now. _Damn hormones. _

**You ****Loser, you're crazy to think that I would let you in.****  
****What you try to do to me?****  
**

"Maybe you should let things flow, let them be the way they are supposed to." She was so wise. I nodded my head but I wasn't getting the whole picture. "You didn't understand what I said."

"At all."

Kayla's laugh was funny- really funny- the ones which were way funnier than the joke. After hearing her striking laugh, ended with an involuntary snort, she told me I had to stop controlling Jared. _I'm going to say this one final time: I did not stalk Jared Thail._ She apologized- not really meaning it- explaining I was way too obsessed with the idea of having a fairy tale like relationship with him. I had the right to have my guard up but even then things should come naturally. If they didn't, then we weren't mean to be.

"Maybe you are right there." I was still grumpy from her earlier assumption, Jared wasn't that important.

"Stop grumbling like an old lady," she giggled. Grabbing the phone she sent me a mischievous look. "I know exactly what you need."

"Hey, runaway daughter-in-law."

"It's not funny!"

"Yes it was." I gaped at Leah who was behind us shaking her head. She sat down and acted like she had said nothing.

Of course it was, but I wasn't going to admit it. Angela laughed openly grabbing her belly while Lily whipped the tears from her eyes. How Leah had found out, I didn't want to know. I glared at them for not being understanding. I had a hard time at the Thail's, and they just laughed at me. They were lucky I loved them enough not to run them over with my truck.

Yesterday when I told Kayla about my escapade she had insisted on the idea that I had to chill and casually she had a cousin of sorts who was giving a party far from home. He had invited her last weekend although her mom had refused to let her go. She had called Lily and Angela to know if they were up to it, which they definitely were.

We were in chemistry- I was, the rest just wanted to make fun of me- and I couldn't look at Jared's eyes when he came in looking frantic. His eyes settled on me and he calmed down and smiled. I heard more giggling around me and hushed my oh so supportive friends.

"Anyway," Lily cut off our staring fest. "Friday night it's going to be awesome!"

"How are we going to get out?"

"Oh, my little sweet innocent Angela, we have our ways."

Lily thought we were Charlie's Angels or something like that and she just winked and said that we will see. We talked a little bit more about our plans- mostly where Kayla's cousin lived- while I watched Jared sift uneasy on his seat.

Next to me sat Nick Parker, you would call him a nerd, but he was a really sweet guy, unfortunately he wasn't blessed with good looks. Jared approached our table and spoke quietly to my partner. I decided to ignore him, but snapped my head at him when I saw Jared sat next to me and poor Nick moving to the front of the class.

"Hey,"

"We are going to go, now." I seriously doubted my friends had any sort of kind feelings towards me.

"No, girls wait!"

They could have stayed till the teacher arrived, but they seemed to hate me and left singing: Call me, beep me if ya wanna reach me. I mumbled a curse to them, which only Jared heard and turned my back to him. _I will not put up with this idiot today. _I could hear his deep laugh behind me and my face flushed crimson. I really liked Kim Possible TV show, but that song was going to be the death of me.

**I'm never, I'm never, I'm never going back to****  
****the place where we started.**

"Come on, I'm in the dog house again?"

Jared laughed at his own joke which I found rather sad and poked my sides with his long fingers. I wanted to stay mad, but I was way too ticklish and squirmed till I swatted his hands away. He pouted and gave me his best puppy dog eyes and I had to put all my will on ignoring him.

"You can look at it, but you cannot touch it." With that I hoped he would pay attention to class at least for the first time in his life.

"We will see."

I felt the need to break my pencil in two, thinking it was his neck. Where this frustration and aggressiveness does comes from? I was regretting opening myself to Jared, all I got in reprieve was a headache and letting me feel edgy. I felt I was getting the short end of the stick. Prick.

Rolling my eyes I proposed not to let it affect me, at least not until tomorrow. I've been avoiding him for week I could do it till next day.

It was easier than I expected since Jared controlled himself and held back all the touchy shit with me. Every time he talked to me I kept my answers short and thought about getting out of the reservation at night. I hoped fresh air would clear my mind.

**~º~º~º~ Outside the reservation, that night~º~º~º~**

"Okay, this is not what I had in mind when you said I had to relax."

"This is the best way to do so! Drinks, music, friends and boys to take your mind off of things."

Maybe Lily wasn't getting that BOYS had dragged me into this never ending headache. I ignored that because she was right about the drinks, music and friends. It had been too long since I had danced in a party. Last time with Paul's odd behavior, Jared's odd flirting abilities and Tanya's odd cheating- scratch that, she was a skank- the whole event was pretty…Odd.

But today was different, I willed myself to believe. For starters we were at some Kayla's cousin birthday party and there were no acquaintances from school. We weren't even in the reservation. I thought we passed the 'Welcome to the Makah reservation sign'. People here were "old", as in twenty or so years old, but hey I wasn't going to complain, they looked fine.

_Not as fine as Jared though. _

Rolling my eyes at my stupid inner self we got in behind Kayla who was in her element given it was a relative of hers we were visiting. After greeting birthday boy and his girlfriend, Oliver- birthday boy- led us to his enormous backyard where the part was being held. He got us a non alcoholic drink then winked and grabbed a bottle with a black drink on it.

"Don't tell your mom," He whispered to my friend then waved at us. "This is your house."

Bowing he disappeared with his giggling girlfriend by his side. Oliver was cute and I guessed fun to be around.

"What's him yours again?" I asked Kayla.

She seemed thoughtful for a moment then said: "He is my ex-political aunt's stepson."

"As in, nothing yours."

"At all." Giggling she remind me when I told her the same line.

"If my mom ever calls Jasmine, we are all in for lots and lots of pain."

"Ang, don't call bad weather." Lily slapped Angela's back while grabbing my hand. "Ems got our back right?"

"I hope so." My older sister had done it a couple of times and owed me, but we couldn't be sure. You should have your friends near and your enemies even nearer.

Our parents were permissive when it came to our outings, but they would have never let us out of the reservation to party in some far relative house of ours. I was sure mom and dad let me go to Tia's party because Em knew her, they knew her and I was going to be supervised, or so they thought. So we figured up a way to not to let them know where we were. My friends said they were staying in my house, while I told Jasmine we were at Lily's, where her brother would cover us up. We called for trouble, but then again we wanted to have fun.

Mingling with the guests we sipped on our drinks while hearing the beat coming out through the speakers. We even heard Oliver's best friend was friends with Michael Ridens- hot famous supermodel- and maybe he was going to pass by. My spirits lifted seeing all the bodies pumping at the rhythm of 'Rude Boy'. That day I didn't want to think about all the confusion waiting for me back at school. Teenage drama could take a toll on you.

**You're never gonna break through.**

It was like being in a club, with lots of unknown people to dance with but we didn't spend one dollar on drinks. I had to remember Kayla to get Oliver an awesome big present. Twirling and swaying our hips we were enjoying our time with a bunch of girls wanting to call the attention of a group of guys staring back at them. Or us, I didn't know and I didn't care.

Halfway into "Fire burning in the dance floor" Angela pleaded for a break. We were dehydrated and complete worn out.

"Hey,"

Pouring ourselves another drink- I had lost count on how many we had had- we heard a deep voice came from behind. I turned to see a tall lanky boy with blonde long hair introducing his friends to mines. We weren't sure how much older they were but if they didn't try something fishy with us then, all cool. Peter-Pete as he like to call himself- insisted on having me drinking from his glass, which I politely refused. It was kind of a turn off that he was staring at me with such intensity.

"We are going to take a break."

"Another?" Lily replied looking directly at Thomas- Pete's friend.

"Yes, another, come on Lil."

Grabbing her arm I told the group of guys we would be back in a while. They nodded their heads and watched us leave and I could swear I saw "Pete" checking my ass all the way. Disturbing. We lounged in the living room drinking some more, without morons trying to look at our cleavage. In the middle of a discussion of which guy would be the hottest catch we heard a commotion in the backyard. A couple of girls passed by gushing out about Mr. Hotness & co. Guys here were all right, but not further than that.

"Well, if some hot guy is in there, what are we doing here?"

Laughing at Angela's comment we went to find out what the ruckus was about. Once there, blinking stupidly trying to focus my eyes I thought maybe in my drunken state I was hallucinating. Vodka could do that to you.

"Tell me I'm way too drunk and that's not..."

**No no no no, never gonna give in****  
****(yes you are, yes you are)**

My whining made it more real as they turned around and looked directly at us. Suddenly all the alcohol rushed out of my system as I watched him making his way toward me. There was no point at running mostly because I was too far from home and probably if I tried I would have tripped or puked, or both.

Kayla with eyes as big as saucepans holds a hand in front of her mouth stopping her guffaws but failing. "You are way too drunk, but THAT," she said pointing directly at the boy coming our way. "It's definitely Jared."

**No no no no, never gonna give in****  
**

* * *

**Show me some love! :D I always forget things I want to say, so yeah, in the next update I would be like: oh and this and that. Whatever. XOXO!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm back, please don't hate me! I know I deserve a good lashing, but the muse just left...disappeared and I just couldn't. Even so, it doesn't justifies this long ass absence. I know. *Looks down and pouts* I'm back for good and I compromise for those who are still with me- and those who aren't, can't really blame you- that I will update each 20 days or so maximum. Anyway, I hope you like this new chapter. Thanks to all who still are checking for an update. On with the show! **

**PS: I love this song! (the band in general)**

**Thanks to my beta Lucy!**

**Disclaimer: I ****do not own Twilight. **

**STUCK WITH EACH OTHER ****Chapter 10: Party crashers, panty snatchers.**

_**Hot Chelle Rae–Never have I ever **_

**Jared's POV**

**º~º~º~º~ Somewhere at the Makah rez ~º~º~º~º **

_Never ever before  
Has a colorful world _

Kim was going to be the death of me. Physically, mentally, sexually…

Naughty little girl. What was she thinking leaving the rez without her parents' consent? But she was going to get it. Oh yes she was. I wasn't going to get in her good side anytime soon, but Kim needed to be inside of La Push where I could see her. ASAP.

**Okay caveman, are you going to say that to her? **Paul snickered, rolling his eyes. **She's going to neutralize you, just saying.**

**Just saying, **I mocked him.

We were two minutes from ending our patrol along the Makah reservation- we decided to scan the grounds just in case- our clothes waiting in my car, which was parked with many other guest's cars. Paul was driving me over the edge with his dirty imagination and over experienced- as if- thoughts.

**Why are you coming with me again? **I asked the wolf shaking his fur.

Since I had mentioned the word 'party', Paul's mind had been in overdrive. Somehow he had talked me into showing up uninvited- not that anyone was going to send us an invitation- just to drag Kim back home. Deep down though, I knew it was an excuse to attend that party since I could and should have gone alone.

**Why so harsh Jayman? **In the last few days he had been calling me 'Jayman' which was getting quickly under my skin.

He mentally pouted. **I'm your wingman. **He stated like it was obvious. **It's only right I accompany you.**

It seemed the fact that I liked Kim had small to no meaning to Paul. Eventually, he got his way since we were carrying a bag with our clothes- decent clothes- to mingle and have fun. I had told him again and again we wouldn't be there to socialize, in fact we had to get out there as fast as possible. Still, of course, he had other ideas.

My top and only priority was to keep Kim safe- even if she didn't care. I had planned a ten minute invasion. With my super werewolf senses I calculated it wouldn't take me long to find her.

**Or not. **

As Paul had confirmed upon gazing at the house- more like mansion- raising above the trees in the forest, the house was gigantic. Phasing back to human we put on our clothes on faster than humanely possible. I was nervous about crashing at a party but I told myself it was for a greater purpose. I half waited to find a buff watchman at the front porch, but found no one, just a couple making out. _Lucky them._

Taking my mind out of the gutter, we passed the crowded living room while I sniffed my way through the people trying to catch a wiff of Kim. It was faint but her scent was all over the place and it was stronger in the backyard. Our eyes widened in surprise at the grand extension of field in front of us. If I had thought the other rooms were packed, it was nothing compared to that. Cursing at the good weather I grabbed-not so discreetly- Paul by the collar of his T-shirt when he was getting too cozy talking to a group of girls.

"Jayman, chill." Paul calling me THAT GOD DAMN NAME was just making me angrier. "Get yourself in check bro. We don't want too much of the wrong attention."

As soon as he said that, I noticed the shaking. Probably too late. Guys looked at us weirdly- probably they were just being envious- and girls seemed really interested. I knew I could do much better than I was doing that night, but having Kim MIA was getting on my nerves. My wolf was pissed at my poor attempts of being a control freak like he was.

_Note to self: never let Kim out of sight EVER again._

"What is he doing here?" It was her; her angelic voice. I knew she meant me since there was a hint of annoyance laced in her voice.

Turning around I found a sight that knocked my breath away. Probably every time we crossed paths she left me breathless, but aside from Tia's party I did not have the chance to see her all dressed up again. I appreciated the way her purple dress accentuated her curves. I hated the fact that guys there got to see Kim exposing that much skin.

_Held a colorful girl like you  
You gotta fly  
_

So maybe Paul was right when he called me caveman.

"Oh hell to the no," fuming, she stomped her way towards me and met me halfway. "How in the-" she paused. "world did you know about this party?"

Her breath fanning my face was slightly distracting, and before I could manage a decent answer she cut me off.

"Don't even think about lying to me because I will know."

"There's a Makah boy, back in the rez-" I started with the total truth. "He said parties here were crazy," not exactly. "We heard there was going to be a big party here," true. "So we decided to swing by, since Embry said it would be alright." White lie.

"Sure…Embry Call huh," Her eyes narrowed to slits. Fuck, that stare meant she was going to investigate. But even if she found out I had lied, we were already there, so she couldn't prevent what was about to happen. "Oliver!"

A tall guy, who was at least tipsy, appeared by her side and put an arm over her shoulders. _Well, were did that touchy shit come from? _After trying to get us out of the party-I was really offended- birthday boy decided to let us be. Not for being a great guy though but because he wanted to keep his teeth in place.

"Plus, the house is big enough so you won't see each other." He explained so friendly, getting closer to Kim.

"Oh, but we will." I said as I took his arm off of my imprint's shoulders.

After that he literally moon walked to the living room.

"We don't know each other here." That was a no-go. "So get out of my way Thail."

"You see Kimberly," I used her full name which was used in rarely occasions and saw how much she hated it. "You are underage," I said in a low voice. "Drinking alcohol, partying with strangers, away from home and without your parents consent."

Her eyes widened. It was obvious I shouldn't have known the last bit of information, but it was what got her attention.

"What do you think you are doing?" I asked almost enraged. "Don't you know all the things that could happen to you? How are you supposed to get home? You don't know what's going on behind doors at this party. Have you no self preservation?"

She gasped.

"Wow, I-I think," she stuttered. "Oh God, Jared, I-I think I've come to a realization." Maybe I had gotten to her with my little speech. "I don't give a rat ass."

Maybe not.

"Tell your friend to behave, will you?" I heard Angela say. Her face was scrunched up in disgust.

Looking back I saw Paul right in the middle of a group of five chicks checking him out and giggling at the stupidities that were coming out of his mouth. Rolling my eyes I let him be, 'cause we weren't going to stay much longer.

"We are just leaving." I told her so she wouldn't worry.

"Perfect timing, see you in class." Kim marched away but not before I grabbed her by the arm.

"No you don't missy." Her eyes were blazing with anger. That only made her sexier. "I don't know about your friends, but you are leaving with us. Right now."

"Jared," she breathed trying to calm herself down. "Did you hit your head this morning? Or I don't know… eat something toxic?"

"Kim, you're not supposed to be here, you are barely sixteen!"

"And you are what? Sixty? Last time I checked you are as young as me, so stop it with the parenting crap."

"Whatever you say, all those boys out there just want to get you naked-, "

"And you don't?" she cut me off looking sultry.

_What do you say to that? _

Sure I did… I'M SEVENTEEN FOR CHRIST SAKE! _Why she keeps on testing my control?_ I couldn't explain to her what was going through my mind at that moment. _Hell no._

"Wha…" I trailed off not sure of what to say. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "No! What? No! Kim! No!" I didn't know if I was trying to convince me or her.

Pulling her arm away from my grasp, I saw her lip trembling. She looked hurt and I didn't know what I had done to her, again.

"Of course not," she snorted. "You had your share of naked girls already didn't you? Yeah, why would you want to see boring little Kim na-," she covered her mouth with her hands as if she wasn't supposed to say that out loud. "Forget I'd said that."

I couldn't even if I tried.

_Never ever have I  
Been just black or just white  
All this freedom and flight has got me feeling high  
_

After that I followed her everywhere I could -she closed the restroom door in my face though- and threw away two of the six cups she drank. I considered kidnapping her, but there were too many witnesses and to top it off her friends helped her to get rid of me in three occasions. My keen sense of the smell made their attempts futile. Two hours passed while I tortured Kim with my constant presence when I felt she was walking funny. If I had thought she was difficult before, it was nothing compared to her wasted.

"I'm fiiiiiiine," she kept repeating every time I asked her to sit down. "You are the one out of balance."

"Sure I am," without asking for permission, I grabbed her by the elbows and took her to the front porch.

Once outside I sat her in the recliner- way stylish and very expensive recliner- and I sat by her side not touching her. She moaned and fanned herself a lot. Little by little I thought she was recovering, but when I tried to move her I heard her mumbling about two stupid Jared's.

"Unngh,"

She was so cute when she was complaining.

"I…I must look like shit." I looked at her properly and sure her eyes were a little bit hooded and her hair was a tad in disarray, but she was beautiful. "I need to brush my hair or something."

Rolling my eyes, I told her she was just fine, that she didn't need to worry.

"I saw Paul dancing the conga," Great. She snorted and began singing. I was caught out of guard when she asked. "Why are you here?"

_What could I tell her?_ I asked myself. _That I was going crazy because she wasn't near?_ _That I couldn't live with the idea that she could get hurt?_ I sighed. At least I could touch her without her biting my head off.

"I was worried about you," I said timidly. Kim looked at me, her long lashes making her gaze more innocent. "I know you can take care of yourself, but there are things out there… Something bad could have happened to you."

"I don't understand you, and never will."

I sighed again. I couldn't comprehend myself sometimes.

"Jared," she blushed, but then rolled her eyes, probably thinking she was being stupid. "You appear out of thin air like a freaking ghost whenever I go and try to impose your will. I'm sick of it. You wouldn't have done half of it before, I know something happened to you and you changed because of it, and I want to know what happened."

I wanted to tell her, and I almost did. It was at the tip of my tongue, but it wasn't such a great moment to drop it on her_. I'm being a freak because I can turn into Scooby Doo, you see. Oh! And I imprinted on you and I'm your slave for life._ That would go just fine_. _

A part of me was glad she had opened up to me so I could know what was going on in that pretty head of hers, but the other felt trapped knowing I couldn't tell her what she wanted to hear.

I cleared my throat and after thinking a suitable answer- one that would calm her fears temporarily- I turned my head looking directly at her.

"I'm-I'm a…" I coughed nervously. "I tend to be impulsive sometimes and I scare you, I understand." We both chuckled because it was true. "Things have happened in my family, and had changed who I was. But they are really personal-"

She looked hurt and pulled away a little so I backtracked.

"Not that I don't trust you," I grabbed her face with my hands. "I do, it's just hard for me to… get used to, I need to deal with it first, and then I would be able to… tell you…everything."

Truthfully, I couldn't picture the day I would have to tell her what I really was and about our imprint. It scared me more than anything. Rejecting the jock at school was something, but if she ever decided she wanted nothing to do with the wolf… A lump formed in my throat at that thought.

"I'm asking you to wait for me to be ready?" I asked, somehow freaked out at how it had come out. "Trust me, I wouldn't like to deal with a freak like me and my stuff…As you can see… I get umm... sort of ahead of myself sometimes." I was blushing now. Admitting I acted like an idiot almost every time we were together at least made her smile. "But when I care for someone I'm capable of everything."

_A passion runs from my heart  
The room is spinning to red  
_

The connection our eyes held at that moment was worth every minute of discussions we had that night. I wanted to kiss her so bad. Not that the idea had left my mind since we got trapped at school. I could tell she wanted me to and I was happy to oblige.

"I don't think you are ready for this though," she turned her face sideways at the last moment. I almost groaned. "You are so warm," Kim said as she nuzzled her face against my chest. She let out a single moan of comfort when I rubbed my hand against her almost frozen arm.

I was trying to be a gentleman, and was succeeding for the most part. Then she moaned again.

_If she keeps doing that noises I might not respond for my actions,_ I thought as she let out another 'hummmmm' of contentment. She wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled her body closer to mine. My wolf was so happy it was doing a happy dance in my head.

"So warm…"

I didn't know what was going through my head anymore.

I didn't know what we were, or even if I wanted us to be something- as in Sam and Emily something. I wanted to smack my head against a rock hard surface.

One thing was telling me that indeed I wanted her, to be with her, make her happy. Common sense told me to wait, I barely knew her, and I just couldn't be in love with her. I shouldn't. And I was not.

I looked at Kim who had kind of fallen asleep on me. She was so innocent, such a great kid. Feisty and downright stubborn. I wanted nothing more than her happiness, knowing her much or not. My eyes trailed at her exposed cleavage which was at plain sight. I pressed my lips tightly suppressing a groan.

So I was attracted to her. At least.

_Damn. Who wouldn't?_ If I hadn't noticed her before it was because I was a dumb motherfucker.

So I liked her, and had sort of romantic feelings towards her.

_And an obsession with her lips. _A voice inside my head chided.

_The blood is leaving my head  
You're such a chemical  
_

Whatever I felt towards Kim; I didn't want it to be ruled by the imprint. It seemed wrong, but at the same time it felt right. I snorted. _It was supposed to, dumbass. _I was such a nutcase. One thing I knew, I needed to talk to Sam.

But first I got to wake her up, without realizing it I had been lost in my own world for an hour.

"Kim," I said softly. "Kimberly," I immediately smiled when she scrunched up her face and small wrinkle appeared over her nose. Even her subconscious hated her full name.

"Five minutes…"

"No," I laughed. "Come on, it's late." Indeed it was. Four PM and there we were.

"Oh god, I fell asleep." She blushed, while recoiling from me. "Why was I almost on your lap?"

"You were pretty comfortable there." I held her hand and helped her steady herself. "Come here."

"No!" Kim's face was red like a tomato. "I was angry with you and your overprotective butt. You confuse me."

I laughed hard at that. "Alcohol confuses you,"

I all but huffed at her refusal. What was wrong with this girl? I never thought taking care of a drunken girl could be so frustrating_. Well you never took care of one, in the proper sense of the word, _I reminded myself. God I was such a jackass. I tried to argue with her but she wouldn't have me nowhere near her.

"Is it that hard to do as I say?" She didn't know how much.

"I want to help," _so you won't fall in your butt. _

"I don't need your help,"

I approached her and stood right in front of her shaking form. The blush on Kim's face had faded and had a sickening pale color instead.

"Kim? Are you okay?" I asked panicked touching her face. Cold sweat ran over her face.

"Mo-move," she swatted my hands away. "I'm going to-"

And she couldn't finish her sentence because she was puking her guts out. All over my shoes_. Maybe I should have listened to her advice,_ I thought cringing.

My first instinct was to reach out for her and rub soothing circles on her back. Grabbing the loose locks of hair from her face, I saw color turning back to her cheeks. My heart, which was beating erratically, calmed down once I saw Kim get the alcohol out of her system. She couldn't hold her liquor that was for sure.

Just as she was making some progress, her friends appeared, looking grossed out.

"Yuck Kimmy bear!"

I had hoped Paul in a friendly honorable act might have looked after them while Kim and I disappeared. Seeing Kayla and Angela stagger their way to us I realized there wasn't an honorable bone in that dog. Rolling my eyes, I cursed under my breath knowing I would have to look for his horny ass all over the house.

"Where is Lily?" Kim asked, feeling slightly better.

"She was… somewhere," Angela giggled. _Oh good, more drunk teenagers._ As if one wasn't enough. "Lil bean! Where are you?" she yelled to no one.

"Maybe I should go find her?"

"Kim you can't walk straight… much less help find anyone." Rejecting gently her offer, I told her to wait for me while I looked for Paul and Lily.

Finding Cujo wasn't difficult but kind of traumatizing. My innocent ears- loud snort-wanted to fall from my face when my keen sense of smell followed his scent and stopped right in front of a big wooden door. Loud moans could be heard. I was astonished at the amount of couples with a private room. _And I was supposed to leave Kim here? Over my dead, furry body._

Knocking furiously at the door, I laughed when I heard a grunt followed by swearing. _That is definitely Paul there._

"PAUL HILL, GET OUT THIS ROOM RIGHT NOW!" I roared trying to hold my laugh.

_It feels like fire and ice  
You bring my body to life  
Melting into the night just like a butterfly _

I thanked the gods- and mainly Sam- for not ordering Paul his beta. He was once, but after seeing my amazing control and how I was way more responsible because of my beautiful imprint, Sam decided there was no need to put one above the other.

_Now you just have to drag his ass home. Nice move Jared._

I heard shuffling and complaining from the other side of the door, but I knew he had to do as I said because neither he nor I wanted to face Sam's wrath again. We had been testing our A-boss far too much.

"Dammit Jared," he came out buttoning his jeans. "Just because you don't get laid doesn't mean the rest of us can't."

"You left those girls alone!" I scolded him while hitting him with his own T-shirt. "And now Lily is gone, so you are going to help me find her."

His nostrils flared and he pushed me trying to get away from my chiding. I couldn't help but chuckle at the head peering from behind the door. After apologizing for my rudeness I followed Paul, looking everywhere for Lily. Luckily she wasn't too far, just getting out of the bathroom. Someone was waiting for her outside. A guy, who doubled her size and age, took her hand while smiling like the freaking Cheshire cat.

_Sick bastard_.

"Hey! You!" Paul yelled over the loud speakers. Surprisingly Lily and her companion turned around. Her face needless to say, was priceless. "Your friends are waiting for you."

I mentally slapped him, knowing she would put up a fight. She was Kim's friend after all.

"Says who?" She replied in her daily sassy tone.

"Me,"

Paul grabbed Lily by the arm and pulled not so gently, Cheshire complained but backed off at Paul's snare. _What a pussy. _

* * *

"Don't you dare put your paws on me again!" Lily and Paul argued, while I took Kim and her friends to the parking lot. They had been yelling at each other for five minutes.

"Not that I wanted to," he huffed.

"Shut up you two." I stopped their bickering. "You made a point Lily, Paul don't touch her-"

"I DIDN'T WANT TO!"

We all laughed at Paul's outburst, he just needed to stamp his foot. Swearing the whole way to the car we found ourselves with a hard decision to take. They weren't in a good state to drive.

"Paul and I should drive, I'll drive my car. Kim you're coming with me?" I asked hoping she wouldn't reject my offer. Not that I would have left her ride with Paul anyway.

"Do I really have a choice?"

_Atta girl._

"Just what I thought." She mumbled and got into the car.

Before I could get in Paul shoved me to the side and took my car keys.

"Jared, so help me God you aren't making me give a ride to those three… alone!"

I rolled my eyes at his correct assumptions. So what if I wanted to spend more time with Kim? He should have seen it coming. I promised I would make it up to him. He didn't believe one word, but there wasn't much he could do, and letting those girls drive themselves was something not even him would let happen.

While I got Kim comfortable in my car and left my shoes at the back I could hear Paul telling three crazy drunk to shut up. They weren't listening to him though; they went as far as starting singing Dirty Beat dedicating the "I had the time of my life" bit to an almost gone wolf, Paul Hill.

* * *

"I'm sorry about your shoes…" Kim said looking at the window.

"Don't worry about it," I replied barely holding my laugh.

I knew she was embarrassed, but it was downright funny. I kept looking straight because if I looked at her I would have exploded in a fit of ungentlemanly roars.

"I will not comment it in the near future, but you owe me."

She gasped but couldn't quite argue with my reasoning. I didn't want her to feel bad about my ruined shoes, but if I could hold it against her so she would owe me then I was all for it.

"If you had moved as I told you to, none of that would have happened…" she trailed off getting upset.

"If you had told me you were feeling sick,"

"Oh yeah, I was going to say in my most seductive voice: "Jared, I'm going to barf"." After chuckling she added in a whisper. "'Cause that's so sexy."

"If you say it like that-," that got her mad and she hit me. "What?" I asked innocently. "Aw Kim-,"

_Never have I ever felt like this before  
I've never been the one to knock but now I'm at your door  
_

"I'm not listening," she cut me off feigning sleep.

"Really mature." I snickered.

Way to soon, we were on the rez. The rest hadn't quite made out the outskirts of town yet, and I could feel Kim's apprehension rolling of off her in waves. As we decided to stop I realized we hadn't agreed on what we were going to do next.

If they had lied to their parents it's not like they could walk into their houses at six a.m. It only occurred to me after I had dragged them all out of that infamous party. _Dumbass much? _Thankfully they had planned sleeping on Kayla's car till eleven, when Kim's family was out of their house. She had saved herself from an all Connweller lunch. I didn't want to leave her just yet, but I didn't have a choice. The sexy passenger beside me had been silent the whole ride and I didn't want her to leave like that though. I wanted her to understand my alter motives and was about to tell her so when someone behind us honked.

"Asshole," I muttered knowing Paul could hear me. From the rearview mirror I could see his smug face.

Kim looked out the window and mouthed the word "HELP"- I could see her from the rearview mirror. Rolling my eyes at such childish antics; I asked her where she wanted me to park. After hesitating she decided the beach would be the best isolated place. Once we were there we swapped cars- Paul mumbling the whole way until he plopped his ass on the passenger seat. He was going to grow old just by being so damn angry all the time. It didn't change the fact that he was funny to look at.

"Thanks for…" my little rebel began sweetly then her tone changed drastically. "I don't know what for exactly. You acting like my dad is something I don't appreciate in the least."

So much for a gratitude speech…

"I wouldn't have done so if you weren't acting like a five year old." That angered her further but I couldn't stop myself.

"Who do you think you are to claim being my protector?"

There she struck a nerve.

No one had asked that from me, and no one needed to, because my over-protection switched on whenever danger got close to her. I just was, and she couldn't know. Not yet.

"That's what I thought." With that, she hightailed and got inside the car with her friends.

When we got home, I made sure to park the car like it had never disappeared and crept our way through the forest. Letting the anger and frustration get a hold of me I exploded into a ball of fur howling at the impotence I felt.

"**I told you that was going to happen,"** the know-it-all with blue balls said. **"You can't really blame her for snapping like that."**

"**Let it go, okay?"**

After that, hours passed without communication between us- not that I felt bad- but our thoughts always ended up in the same place. For the first time since I had imprinted; I willed myself to think about other things instead of her scent or the ring of her voice. Paul noticed and tried to distract me, giving me a visual about what was going down behind doors. It was entertaining at first then it got downright nasty.

"**That chick was hot," **that thought hadn't left his mind in hours since we were tracking vampires scent.

"**And you'll find someone hotter, get over it!"**

"**Cock-blocker-"**

"**Horny dog,"**

We heard twigs break behind us and quickly stopped our barreling. Sniffing our way into a clearing we found and angry Alpha wolf sitting alone, looking annoyed. Paul and I gulped at the same time, knowing we were in for the lash out of our lives.

"**I'm asking this ONCE," **his nostrils flared and big puffs of air shot out of his snout. **"What the hell were you two thinking leaving the rez without MY consent?"**

Oh man, this was going to be a long, long day.

* * *

**º~º~º~º~ The day after, The Thail's household ~º~º~º~º **

You know what sucks more than not being able to talk to the person you need the most? Not having her phone number. And never be able to ask for it. In the past two days I had been daydreaming about possible situations and all of them involved a slap. Then I understood no matter what I said to her, I would be saying something wrong, always.

Not that it only happened with imprints.

Paul had got tired of my whining- again- and offered to ask her for it even if he had to risk his own life at Lily's venomous tongue. I wondered why he never offered for a role on soap operas. He had such a gift for drama. Unfortunately we found out he wasn't far from the truth once he ran into Lily and decided to give it a go. Not only he did not get Kim's number, but won a new arch enemy.

Talk about guard dogs, I laughed at my own joke. Danni sitting by my side looked at me worriedly then went back to his Sponge Bob cartoons.

When I first started my "oh so willing" job of protecting the tribe, I thought how it would be cool to get to roam the woods with no curfew, living like a wild animal for a few hours. After weeks of patrolling and no other place to go than mines or Sam's- which lately was rubbing me the wrong way- I got bored to death.

"Jared, someone is asking for you." Mom yelled from the front door.

I got up from the couch and smoothed my clothes- mom insisted that I should wear a shirt- while my heartbeat ricocheted. In less than a second I was at by her side, but my hopes deflated instantly upon seeing Paul's horny face.

"You." I almost pouted.

"I'm happy to see you too bro," he feigned being hurt. "I'm here to take your sorry ass on a date."

_Well listen very closely you can hear the sound  
Of a love that makes my heart beat and my head spin around  
_

"Language boys!" Called my mother from inside the house.

He didn't need to tell me twice. I grabbed my keys and followed him to a small café in front of the beach. A chubby woman, known as Cynthia, asked for our orders and pinched our cheeks afterwards. She was like an old aunt who smothered every single teenager who came her way. We loved her all the same.

"Quit that long face, will you. She can't hate you."

"She is trying, that's what counts." I remarked him.

"And whose fault is it?" Said the smartass.

Supposedly, it was my fault. What should I have done? Leave her there with those macho-wacko college's boys? I was still fuming over the fact that she had the nerve to be her sassy self after I called her on her wrongs. Still, I shouldn't have imposed. It was driving her insane and away from me.

But I was as stubborn as Kim, if not more and I was done apologizing.

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes at him. "You gonna pay for this, right?" He shook his head taking a large sip of his coke.

"Paul, dude, you asked me out,"

"You're not going to "repay" me later," he deadpanned making air quotes with his fingers.

"Sick man," I said throwing a napkin at him.

Laughing and talking about nothing time flew by till the sky turned orange and the temperature dropped several degrees. People- mostly kids we knew from school- started filling the empty boots around us. I glanced at the entry every once in a while waiting for Kim to appear and brighten my sky. _Gee, cheesy_.

One kid called my attention, Embry Call, was asking the waitress for a take away. With him were his goons, Quil Ateara and Jacob Black. Jake was the younger son of Billy Black, the tribe's chief. He was expected to follow onto his dads steps one day. But by then they were three goofy guys who spent too much time in a garage. _It would do them well to start dating. Not that Quil hadn't tried to…_ I snickered remembering that.

"You better warn Call about Kim." Paul advised looking directly at him.

We had been watching them for a while now, I just trying to find the words to simply let him know what to say and not ask for explanations. I heard Jacob saying he had to go with his dad to Forks. He wanted to see Bella- a crazy chick who ran with vampires- the poor kid had a crush on the Forks chief's daughter. Personally, I didn't know what he saw in her.

"She is openly avoiding you Jake," Embry said exasperated. "She hasn't even called you once!"

"Bella is busy studying and taking care of Charlie." Jake defended her. You wouldn't know who he was trying to convince.

"You follow her like a puppy," his friend rebutted raising his voice. "How long is this going to last?"

A small group next to them stopped their conversation at Embry's outburst. Far from blushing and cowering- he was known to be a little shy- he got angrier and angrier and no words of Quil or Jacob could calm him down. Paul shrugged and said he might be PMSing. Just then Embry turned to look at us as if he had heard something.

"What's wrong with you dude?" Jacob said and left the cafeteria, not long after Quil left too.

I did not think that was a good time to ask him anything, so I waited till I saw him breathing normally. He hadn't stopped looking our direction though. When he was about to pay to the cashier I approached him and poked him at the back. He got stiff and dug holes in my skull with his eyes.

"Hey," I asked suddenly timid. He didn't respond, just acknowledged me with a nod so I went on. "I-um, maybe Kim, Kim Connweller might ask you about some party of sorts, you just have to say you talked to me and told me to go."

_My head spin around, spin around, spin around, spin around, round, round  
I spin around, I spin around, I spin around  
_

His face scrunched up and his eyes blazed with anger again. _Okay… _

"I don't have to do shit for you," he spat. I blinked twice in surprise. I was bigger and bulkier than him, he had some balls. "You come here to order me around after a whole hour of staring?" He gripped the bar and started trembling slightly.

"Are you okay?" I asked sincerely worried. I hadn't seen that behavior since…

"Why does everyone keeps asking me that?" He yelled and left in a huff.

Paul came by my side almost being thrown back by Embry leaving. He seemed confused- he couldn't understand the kid's outburst either.

Looking back at the bar, I saw the indents of fingers in the wood. Things were turning ugly faster than I thought.

* * *

**º~º~º~º Monday, La Push High School º~º~º~º~**

"I had never seen a guy your age get so excited on a school Monday."

Paul had been teasing me since I'd picked him up from his house that morning. His mom fed up with his sudden disappearances decided to take away his car keys because of his lack of responsibility. He had been fuming and needless to say, it took him very little to phase. After that we discussed with Sam the possibility of telling Paul's only parent- Christine- about tribal stuff. But first the elders needed to consent that.

Anyway I was glad to be in class once again. That meant I could torture Kim some more before she gave in to my unquestionably charm. As I expected, I didn't catch sight of her till late that day in history class. On the brighter side, I hadn't seen Embry, Tom, Tanya or my ex-friends either- I hadn't noticed if they were there really. Life dragged on indefinitely without seeing that someone you care so much about.

* * *

The last hour came and with it my never ending bliss- although it did end- and I dragged Paul's ass early into an empty class. I tapped my foot impatiently until I saw her enter the room, laughing with a friend. The way my whole being felt when she was near could only be described as utter peace.

"Kim!" I almost shrieked while an idiot smile appeared in my face_. So much for keeping it cool._

"Psycho," I heard Paul mutter from the other side of the room.

"Hey,"

As she sat down, Kim didn't even try to make a snarky remark and I blinked my eyes stupidly. That was the first time-since my transformation- she had talked to me without contempt in her voice. I was about to cry.

"How was your weekend?" I felt sort of retarded asking her the same question week after week.

"Pretty boring, I might have had a blast on Friday but someone decided to rain on my parade."

I held back the nasty comment that was building in my throat. No need to argue the very first hour we met. After that I asked her trivial things about her weekend and plans for the day. She kept her answers short but we engaged on a small chit chat until Mr. Polard yelled at me to shut up. Boring little man.

"Now that Mr. Thail had graciously accepted to remain silent," he shot me a glare but had no real effect. "I can tell you there is a project due in two weeks-"

Everyone started to groan and complain making our teacher want to roll his eyes. After shushing us, and threatening with an exam the room felt silent.

"Two weeks from today you will have to deliver a 20-page-project- don't fill it with photos, I'll qualify with an F if there are more than 5 images. Anyway, you have to choose a partner and in case you find none I will assign you one. Go!"

I saw Kim nod at Lily from the corner of my eye when the teacher first said the word "project". Alas, nothing was set in stone and we had yet to confirm our partners. Before she could get up I grabbed her arm gently and tugged. She plopped down in her chair with and "ommff". Her eyes could have dug holes in my face from the intensity. Then I remembered she doesn't like to be manhandled. _Oops_.

_Never have I ever felt like this before  
I've never been the one to knock but now I'm at your door _

"Hey, maybe we could be partners," I said adding my most dashing smile. "It'll be fun."

"Not in this lifetime," _that was to be expected. _But I had an ace in the hole. Oh yes you knew it, my shoes.

Still smiling so she wouldn't feel too threatened by my next words, I leaned in her ear and whispered: "You owe me." As soon as I saw her about to reply, I cut her off. "What about my shoes? They are all sticky." I couldn't refrain myself from breathing on her vanilla smell.

Gaping like a fish, Kim blushed tomato-red. I felt a little bad from putting this on her, it was worth it though.

"And what are you going to do? Rub them all over my face?" she hissed.

"No, but I can tell the whole class why I had to get home barefoot." I would never do that to my Kim. She didn't need to know that yet. She mumbled a curse-directed at me- nevertheless stayed glued to her seat.

"Everyone ready?" The teacher asked impatiently.

Lily tried to call Kim's attention since she was leaving her alone, but my partner looked at back and shrugged. It wasn't fair play, but it was what I needed to spend time with her without having to abduct her. We settled in a small conversation choosing the topic of our project- which almost ends up being our ancient traditions- and thought it would be original to talk about minor wars where there were important things accomplished. Kim thought it was original, it was a complete bore to me, but if she liked it I was all for it.

"Time is up!" Mr. Polard cut me off mid sentence. "From now on you should meet with your partner outside class. Due in two weeks, don't forget!"

Students gathered their books and started to empty the room until it was only Kim, Lily and me. I took my sweet time picking up my notes, stalling, waiting for Kim's friend to take the hint. Finally she did but didn't make it graciously.

"Kim," she said sternly. "I'll see you outside, NOW."

I guess she was pretty upset about being partners with one of Tanya's minion. I know I would be angry. When Lily was out of sight my imprint glared at me, forcefully.

"You blackmailed me at the very first chance you've got!" She accused me almost throwing her folder at my face.

"It only happened to be the best one I'll get this week,"

Walking to our lockers- mine was the other way, but who cares- she kept quiet. Once she finished, with her bag on her petite shoulders she said: "This ends here. No more threats."

Before she left I grabbed her hand. It felt smooth and cool against my scorching skin.

"This chance is all I needed, because when this project ends you're going to fall in love with me."

Kim blushed and her eyes widened but said nothing. Pulling away her hand she disappeared behind the high school doors, not before tripping when she turned to look at me. I smiled and thought things were going to go my way for the first time.

* * *

**º~º~º~ºLater, La Push forest º~º~º~º**

Later that day, getting ready for patrol I realized we hadn't agreed meeting outside class or how we were going to do our job. Guess my suave comment had left her speechless.

Roaming the zone we didn't see anything out of the ordinary, no scents, nada. Not even that was going to ruin my mood. But there again, there was Paul.

"**You got some loving?" **His big gray body collided with mine and I shook him off with a snarl.

"**That's the only thing in your mind isn't it?" **I flattened my ears and showed my teeth. **"Oh wait, actually there's nothing inside your head."**

It took me little to push Paul's buttons so we could start fighting –playing- getting each second deeper and deeper into the forest, where no one could hear our playful growls. After being smashed against the ground, almost losing a limb and having bold spots on our body Sam decided to intervene.

"**Are you done pups?" **He was still a little mad for Friday night. **"Don't make me go there."**

We stopped and shook our fur seeing our A-boss coming toward us. Before he could fully reach us, Sam tensed his body and snarled.

"**You are on Cullen land," **sniffing around I could feel their putrid scent, but it was faint.

"**It's like they haven't been here for a long time." **Paul confirmed scanning the trees.

"**Paul come back, we can't cross the-," **we already had, so it was kind of meaningless. **"We can't go there," **Sam said.

Their house was just a minute- werewolf running- from where we were and in a flash we were standing in front of the big glass house. The white marble shone with the low sun, but eerily all was pitch black inside. We knew they didn't need the lights on, as we either, but they tried to play house as much as possible, so it was weird.

"**I was expecting a cave with coffins…" **Paul so brilliantly thought.

"**Wait, Jared, look inside," **Sam ordered me. I approached what was supposed to be the living room but could never know because it was just an empty room, as were the adjoining ones.

"**The house is empty," **I thought confused.** "Their scent is still faint; it should be burning our noses by now."**

"**They're gone."** The alpha ordered us to go back to our land and to be ready for a tribal meeting later that night.

The Cullen's were gone, and we couldn't be happier.

* * *

After talking to Billy, old Quil and some other elders, they made phone calls and found out Doctor vamp had left his position as head doctor in Forks a week ago. Contacting other resources we finally concluded the treaty was broken because there weren't any bloodsuckers on our lands. Spirits were lifted after the rumor ran across the rez and everyone- knowing about vampires or not- congregated in the beach just hanging out, laughing or starting a bonfire.

Sam let us be and run free across First Beach, mingling with the few people we still talked with. Emily brought us some snacks and we camped out in the sand.

_Listen very closely you can hear the sound  
Of a love that makes my heart beat and my head spin around  
_

"I didn't know them, anyway I feel bad for them…all this party because they moved," I heard and angelic voice carried by the wind.

"Yeah, they were strange though," Lily argued.

They were sitting on a log, with comfy clothes and a coffee on their hands. Kim had her long hair up in a bun and funny looking sneakers. She had never looked so cute. I watched them for a while and then I spotted Leah by their side. Uh oh.

"Go talk to her," Paul laughed. "I can see you're itching."

Following my friend's comment I got up and walked towards her. I didn't know if it was the imprint, but before I got near her Kim shot up her eyes and looked directly at me, like she had felt me. I smiled and greeted them.

"Hey," I said in general. "How you doing?"

"I'm confused, you know why all this fuss over the Cullen's?" she raised an eyebrow. Did she think I should know? Why?

While panicking I answered: "Err…No, we-they, the elders I mean, weren't too fond of them." She nodded but seemed unconvinced. "I was just hanging out with," I pointed at my pack.

Leah turned her head and looked behind me. If her face was serious then, it hardened even more upon seeing Sam and Emily cuddling. Faster than light she looked away sighed and picked at the sand by her feet. I felt bad but nothing I could say or do would have done any good.

I sat by Kim's side and started asking her silly questions and telling her funny stories which not just made her smile, but made Angela and Kayla snort. Lily was the toughest.

"Dad doesn't know but it was my head what made than indent in the fridge. He just wonders how it expanded." I finished my tale. Kim was trying to hold her laugh but failing.

"There was other time-," I started so we could keep the good mood going, but I caught sight of Paul and Sam leaving the beach almost running.

Emily was left with some friends and they talked to Billy in hushed tones. The chief looked really worried and didn't even wait to finish his speech he was rolled by Jacob to their cars, Sam following hot in their heels.

"Jared?" Kim's voice brought me out of my reverie.

"Uh- sorry," I focused on her again. "Don't mind me, I spaz out sometimes."

* * *

The night was chilly. I could tell Kim wanted to heat up because she was rubbing her forearms. I wanted to hug her, but was afraid she would reject me or start her rant about how I just wanted to take advantage of the situation. I hadn't heard of Sam or Paul in twenty minutes and my patience was running thin.

Fortunately I had the most amazing girl to take my mind off of things. The way her eyes sparkled when she laughed or the way her cheeks flushed when she caught me staring at her was refreshing. Her little red nose was funny too.

"We need to talk about our project schedules," I reminded her. "We can meet at my place or yours, as you want."

She nodded deep in thought. "Okay, tomorrow we'll get started."

"Fantastic!" Maybe my answer was way too enthusiastically since all her friends glanced at my sideways.

"We can…"

The rest of the conversation was drowned out by the howl of a wolf. I turned my head in the direction it came and heard a second one. The first- Paul's was to get my attention- the latest, Sam's however was a worrying one. Something bad had happened and it had to do with vampires.

"Kim, I got to go."

She seemed thrown out a bit, but otherwise smiled.

"Yeah we were leaving now anyway,"

"We'll take a walk-,"

"NO!" I cut Angela off.

They stared at me like I had grown a second head and remained in silent. I heard another howl.

"Stay here for a while, its great here!" I persuaded her to stay put. Better to be in a place surrounded of people than walking alone where someone could attack them.

"Jared, it's late and-", Kim argued.

"Please!" I begged. Leaning close to her I whispered so just she could hear. "Stay for an hour, for your own good, please just… stay? For me? Promise?"

I think she got lost in my eyes- as I did in hers- and maybe it had been the power of the imprint, she nodded and agreed to stay another hour.

"Promise me,"

_Never have I ever felt like this before (this before)  
I've never been the one to knock but now I'm at your door (at your door) _

"I-I promise," with that I let out a sigh of relief, hoping she would do as I asked. Knowing her I wasn't that sure, but I trusted her.

"Take care." I kissed her cheek and ran to the woods.

I phased mid air when I was deep in the forest and ran till I met with my pack at Cullen land- once was Cullen land. Panicked thoughts mingled with rage came flooding at me. I saw through Sam's mind how distraught Billy was, the way Jacob itched to go to Forks and Charlie Swan's anguished voice over the phone:

"_Billy, Bella, my baby is gone."_

"**We need to find her, but we can't do it in wolf form, we can't risk someone seeing us." **Sam explained.

What we were really worried about was Bella's safety; she could be dead, since it was hours since she disappeared. Those leeches could have drained her or worse turned her. In any case, there were blood crazed vampires running across our land.

On the other hand she could have run away with her loved coven and no one would know. Billy had turned down that idea because Bella's belongings were in her bedroom and a note she left said she was coming back in a few. Something bad had happened to her.

Jacob wanted to go with us on our search, but that was impossible. We couldn't have explained our sniffing around or our super speed. He was fuming after we rejected his help but Billy kept him in place. Sam gave a questioning look at the chief about his son, since he should have been the Alpha.

It took us two hours of scanning the whole woods surrounding the Swan's property when we first started to smell her scent. The rain had washed it previously but we could follow it.

"What the hell was she doing here this far?" Paul wondered out loud.

"She didn't come here on her own, someone led her." That was the only explanation. What for; I didn't want to know.

"HERE!" we heard Sam's voice a few miles away to the east.

We ran desperate, wanting to know if she was safe and saw Sam holding her in his arms. She looked pale- she had always been but still- seemed cold and stared at nothing. We examined her slightly, looking for bite marks, although we didn't find other than the half moon in her wrist. It was already healed and she wasn't a vampire neither was turning on one.

We only knew she was alive because she kept chanting: "He's gone, he's gone."

_Well listen very closely you can hear the sound (hear the sound)  
Of a love that makes my heart beat and my head spin around  
My head spin around, (spin around) spin around, (spin around) spin around_

* * *

**Next chapter Jared and Kim get closer! (About damn time, don't you think?) Oh so just you know, I had Embry freaking out but he won't phase right away! I know the Cullens left on September, but I've changed it a bit. **


End file.
